Audiobook · read by volunteers
Birds' Christmas Carol
Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856–1923)
Read by Missie, Cori Samuel, Laura Caldwell, Katie Gibboney, Sarah Jennings · 7 chapters · 1 h 12
About the book
Carol Bird was born on Christmas Day, and she has spent every one of her eleven years thinking about other people. Gentle, bright and generous, she is the light of her family, even though illness has made her life more fragile than most. This Christmas she has a special wish: to give a grand party for a poor family who live nearby and who have never known a real holiday feast. As the preparations begin, her cheerful determination spreads through the household, and the story becomes a tender portrait of kindness in action. Kate Douglas Wiggin writes with humour and warmth, and her small heroine has been loved by readers for well over a century. Seven chapters, shared among five LibriVox volunteers, fill just over an hour. It is a short, moving seasonal story that suits listeners of all ages.
Introduction
Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856-1923) was an American author and educator who founded one of the first free kindergartens in California and went on to become a well-loved writer of children's books. She is perhaps best known for Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, but her earlier story The Birds' Christmas Carol, first published in 1887, was her first great success. She is said to have had the book printed privately at first, with proceeds going to a charity for children.
The story was written for the Christmas season and has been reprinted countless times since. It belongs to a tradition of sentimental Victorian children's fiction in which a young heroine's goodness changes the lives of those around her. Modern readers may find the emotion strong, but the book is saved from sugariness by Wiggin's sense of humour, particularly in her scenes of family life and in her portrait of a large, noisy household of neighbours.
The title plays on the name of the heroine, Carol Bird, who is born on Christmas Day, and on the idea of a carol sung by birds. Chapter titles such as A Little Snow-Bird, Drooping Wings and The Bird's Nest keep up the image, while the other titles, from Birds of a Feather Flock Together to When the Pie Was Opened, the Birds Began to Sing, play on the same theme.
This LibriVox recording is shared among five LibriVox volunteers, including Missie, Cori Samuel and Laura Caldwell, and it runs for about an hour and ten minutes across seven files. It is short enough to enjoy in a single evening, and its message of generosity and joy in small things makes it a fine choice for the holiday season, whether you listen alone or share it with a family.
Public domain
Kate Douglas Wiggin died in 1923: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text