A Book for Jerry by Maud Van Buren

Name: A Book for Jerry
Author: Maud Van Buren

Jerry Juddikins, eight years old and newly able to read, desperately wants a Christmas book of his own: a blue book large enough to carry and small enough to sleep with, filled with bears, dragons, pirates, soldiers, explorers, and pictures, but absolutely no girls. Yet Jerry’s family is desperately poor. His father has no job, food and fire are scarce, bills fill the mantel box, and Jerry is ashamed even to mention wanting a work. The family’s beloved dog, Mutt, is their cheerful, gallant companion despite receiving little to eat. Jerry loves his school at Peppermint Place, especially reading, cocoa, games, and his fellow boys, but he dislikes girls, whom he considers silly, cowardly, and always giggling. Two weeks before Christmas, his teacher has the children write to Santa Claus. Jerry carefully requests his ideal book, stressing that it must contain no girls. At Santa Claus’s workshop, Benjamin Bookfellow, who writes Christmas books, is puzzled by Jerry’s request. Every plot on his Plot Tree contains a girl, and even a sleighful of Authors cannot imagine a story without one. After the Authors steal all the plots, the workshop faces the prospect of having no new books for Christmas. Toymaker Number Eleven reveals the existence of a spring whose water is imagination. Its water makes the Plot Tree quickly bear new plots, but even these all contain girls. Meanwhile, Christmas approaches, and Mr. Juddikins finally returns home with a job. The family’s joy is interrupted when Mutt goes missing. After hours of searching, Katinka, a girl from Jerry’s school, arrives with her father. She explains that Mutt was nearly run over by a butcher boy’s cart; she ran into danger, rescued him, bandaged his injured leg, and fed him. Jerry and his family are overwhelmed by her courage. The next morning Jerry hastily writes Santa again, asking him to put a girl just like Katinka in his book. Benjamin Bookfellow writes a beautiful blue volume full of pirates, dragons, soldiers, and a heroine resembling Katinka. Santa delivers it to Jerry’s stocking, and Jerry treasures it every day and night. His changed view of girls is sealed when Katinka becomes his best friend.

By Maud Van Buren · First published 1927 · Genre: Children's Fiction, Christmas Fiction, Fantasy · 6,517 words

First lines

_Sarah Addington_

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A Book for Jerry is listed on Textopian as a short story by Maud Van Buren, dated 1927 CE.

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Work type: Short story
Author: Maud Van Buren
Date: 1927 CE
Language: English
Genres: Children's Fiction, Christmas Fiction, Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Moral Fiction
Length: 6,517 words
Structure: 1 section, 73 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Work identity for A Book for Jerry by Maud Van Buren
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Similar titles

Genres

Children's Fiction — The story centers on an eight-year-old boy, uses an accessible playful narrator, and explores childhood reading, school, friendship, family, and Christmas wishes.
Christmas Fiction — Jerry's desire for a book is framed by the approach of Christmas, his letter to Santa Claus, Santa's workshop, and the Christmas-morning fulfillment of his wish.
Fantasy — Santa Claus, his North Country workshop, magical toymakers, a Plot Tree that grows stories, and the spring of imagination establish a whimsical fantastical world.
Fairy Tale — The narrative employs fairy-tale logic and motifs: a magical Christmas realm, personified wonder, impossible wishes, moral growth, and a warmly resolved happy ending.