She has three older sisters and a younger brother, all with amazing names-Gwendolen (Gwen), Clementine (Clem), Adelaide (Lady), and Oswald (Ozzie). Minnie Swift is twelve years old and lives in Indianapolis, and as a native Midwesterner myself, I adore books that are set in the Midwest not for any special reason (i.e., the Midwesternness is not a plot point), but it just is and it’s totally normal and great. And real life is stranger and more wonderful than anything any fiction author could dream up, I believe, anyhow. I love, love, love it when authors use their own stories and family history to enrich books, because it’s always so fascinating and cool to see a sort of real personal connection in a way not all books have. The characters are named after Lasky’s mother, aunts, and uncle, and the house is their real-life 1930s house. (Yes, I know it was reissued with a new cover, but I love this cover and I loathe the new ones, so I’m choosing to ignore it.)įor starters, I don’t want to be too harsh on this book because it’s based on Kathryn Lasky’s real-life family. Second and last in the “Christmas Dear America” series, let’s go for a Dear America book that is unlike any other I’ve ever read, and not necessarily in a good way? Is that a good thing? I don’t know, let’s find out.Ĭhristmas After All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1932, Kathryn Lasky, 2001.

Christmas after all by kathryn lasky