"I won't let the fog keep us home!
What will Nana and Papa do
without us?
Sammy,
maybe you can light the way.
Good girl!"
When told that the rolling-in fog is going to make any travel difficult, the small child narrator is hugely disappointed. She has just tied the bow on her gift for Nana and Papa, and she is determined not to miss Christmas Eve with them. What will do if they are all alone?
Sammy, her trusty canine companion, is recruited to light the way with a flashlight tied to his head. Out they go into pea soup fog that has the child seeing scary images when she can't see anything else. Thank goodness it is only the shadow of her pup. Back home they go.
Not at all willing to make that her only foray into the fog, she convinces her parents to adopt her plan, and do their best to find their way. Aglow in sparking Christmas light strings, they are off. As the fog thickens and the wind picks up, they lose contact with each other and the child loses the gift she is carrying so lovingly. So easy to get separated from each other.
When an illuminated row of creatures suddenly appears in the darkness, they are the answer to her most fervent wish ... they will light the way and bring them safely to her grandparents' doorstep. What wonder there is in the world of a child's imagination!
Nana and Papa are not at all worried for the loss of their granddaugher's gift; they get so much more once everyone arrives. Over a cup of hot cocoa, she is able to share her story in words and pictures. That is quite the wondrous gift!
Ms. Wilson captures the dark and ominous surroundings that face the family as they venture forth; as well as the joy that imagination brings to the trek. Telling details begin in opening endpapers and title page, and continue throughtout as a determined and loving child persists in keeping a treasured family tradition. Brava!
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