Silver Packages — Cynthia Rylant

In Appalachia each Christmas, a boy named Frankie waits beside the tracks for the Christmas Train, which will bring presents to the children who live in coal towns and hollows. Year after year, Frankie hopes that one particular gift -- one very special gift -- will be tossed to him from that train. And it is this enduring hope that will guide him to the true meaning of the season. Cynthia Rylant''s story about expectation and the transforming power of kindness first appeared in her acclaimed collection Children of Christmas. Now gloriously illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet with watercolor paintings of glistening trains and snow-covered hills, it shines all the more brightly.