Apples and Angel Ladders: A Collection of Pioneer Christmas Stories

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Like most children, young Archie is looking forward to Christmas.
Unfortunately, life on his family’s isolated Alberta farm is not easy.
Three years ago, in 1919, most of the Christmas-present money went to
pay doctor bills for Archie’s baby sister. This year, a skunk raid on
the hen house has again pushed the family near poverty. Yet, there is a
tree in the parlor, homemade cookies in the oven and, with or without
money, Archie is going to enjoy Christmas as his family draws together
in a poignant celebration of community values and Danish-Christian
traditions.

This book is an adaptation of Morck’s best selling novel, Five
Pennies: A Prairie Boy’s Story. Both books are based on the experience
of Morck’s father who, in the early 20th century, grew up in a
Danish-Canadian pioneer community in rural Alberta. Morck’s prose
deftly probes the bittersweet era of the early 20th century when triumph
or tragedy could hang on something as simple a few chickens. The stories
are matched with gorgeous color plates and numerous black-and-white
sketches. For the Martha Stewart crowd, there are instructions for
Pebbernodders (Danish peppermint cookies) and paper ladders (traditional
Christmas-tree decorations) included in the text. This book will
captivate anyone who loves a good old-fashioned Christmas tale. Highly
recommended.