The Box of Delights

One of my favorite Christmas-y stories is The Box of Delights by John Masefield, the former Poet Laureate of Great Britain. My dad first introduced me to it as a girl, but I didn't much appreciate it until I was "grown up." (I had the same reaction to other well-known children's fantasy novels such as The Chronicles of Narnia or Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quartet -- ironically, now that I am older, I can more easily indulge in the willing suspension of disbelief!)

Kay Harker is on his way home to Seekings for his first school holidays when he meets an old Punch and Judy man, Cole Hawlings, who tells him that "the wolves are running." The "wolves" are arch-villain Abner Brown and his gang, who are posing as clergymen and who will stop at nothing to get the small, black box carried by Cole Hawlings. It is, of course, the Box of Delights, and it is full of magic. Cole entrusts the box to Kay to keep for him. Cole, Kay's guardian and friends, and local clergymen (including the Bishop!) are soon "scrobbled" [kidnapped] by Abner and his gang, and it's up to Kay to find a way to rescue them before Tatchester Cathedral's 1,000th Christmas service is canceled. Kay has marvelous adventures and meets some wonderful companions along the way! The book was written between the World Wars, and contains a strong flavor of an England which is now gone.

The Box of Delights is actually a sequel to The Midnight Folk, also by John Masefield, but it stands well enough on its own. And if you do decide to hunt down a copy, make sure it's unabridged! These books have been difficult to find in the U.S. in the past; however, I looked on Amazon for the purposes of this post and I found that there is a new hardcover edition being released this year, and from the page count I think it is probably unabridged.

The BBC made a film of The Box of Delights back in 1984, which I also highly recommend, if you are not bored by the outdated special effects and low-budget look of the first Chronicles of Narnia movies -- it is very similar in look and feel. Again, this is probably going to be hard to get ahold of it you live outside the UK, but try inter-library loan if you're interested!