The Herdmans are the worst kids in the history of the world. They lie, steal, smoke cigars, swear, and hit little kids. So no one is prepared when this outlaw family invades church one Sunday and decides to take over the annual Christmas pageant.

Abbie Mackenzie dreamed of becoming a fine lady like her aristocratic grandmother, devoting herself to music and art. But at eighteen Abbie found a different dream, turning away from the promise of a comfortable life as a doctor’s wife to marry handsome, quiet Will Deal. Together, they eagerly accepted the challenge of homesteading in Nebraska territory, where the prairies stretched as far as the eye could see, and only the strongest survived for long.

After saving Noah and family from the evil stowaway Charlatan aboard the ark in The Ark, the Reed, and the Fire Cloud, heroes Max and Liz, along with faithful mates Kate and Al, earn immortality and a directive from God to serve as His envoys for pivotal points in human history. They have waited for centuries for a word from the Maker; now they learn they are to work behind the scenes in the life of Joseph. In The Dreamer, the Schemer, and the Robe, the fate of an entire nation rests in their paws.

Mother and Father are called away suddenly, because Grandma is “failin’ fast”. This leaves the oldest Bassett girls, Tillie and Prue, to oversee the cooking of the Thanksgiving feast. Soon all eight children pitch in, though the subtleties of plum pudding and stuffed turkey are completely unknown to them. The result is a whole bunch of old-fashioned fun in the comfortably familiar Louisa May Alcott tradition.

Open a window each day of Advent onto the natural world. The author reads 25 descriptions of wild animals of the northern hemisphere ingeniously adapting when darkness and cold descend. All of them reveal the ancient wisdom of Advent: The dark is not an end but a door, the way a new beginning comes. These short, daily reflections paint vivid, poetic images of familiar animals.