Book excerpt: During WWI, one Christmas, a young boy finds himself stranded in a snowed-in hill community in upstate New York, and finds himself experiencing a Christmas he is not accustomed to. He meets a "locked-out fairy" who introduces him to equally lonely neighbours, all of whom were also spending the winter far from home, and each tells him a personal story of the Christmas season. Some stories the neighbours heard in their native homelands long ago. A final celebration brings all the neighbours of different nationalities together, forging relationships that will outlast the holiday season and sending a message of hope to a war-torn world. Suitable for reading to children aged up to 8 or as a gift to young readers aged 9 and up. 10% of the publisher’s profit is donated to charities. =============== Ruth Sawyer (August 5, 1880 – June 3, 1970) was an American storyteller and a writer of fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. She may be best known as the author of Roller Skates, which won the 1937 Newbery Medal. She also received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (she who wrote Little House on the Prairie) in 1965 for her lifetime achievement in children's literature. =============== KEYWORDS/TAGS: This Way to Christmas, winter, USA, Snowed in, mountain community, upstate New York, share, stories, story, locked out fairy, home, immigrants, togetherness, adventure, storytelling, Barney, Bethlehem, born, Bridget, bring, children, Chris’mus, Christ-child, Christmas, Claus, clock-maker, clock, creatures, David, Dona, Eve, fairies, fairy, fiddle, roaring fire, flagman, friend, gather, gipsies, gray, great, happen, heart, Hermann, hill, holy, honey, Joab, Johanna, Josefa, King, lad, locked-out, lodge, Manuel, Mary, neighbours, neighbours, Nicholas, Peter, poor, reindeer, saint, Santa, Santy, squirrel, Teig, Uncle, window, world, ruth sawyer,