Little Friend Lydia

Christmas at the Children's Home should be magical, but for Lydia, the holiday highlights everything she lacks. While other children chatter excitedly about toys and treats, Lydia's heart aches for something far more precious: a real family to call her own. When Santa Claus arrives to grant each child's wish, he gives the others their heart's desires, but Lydia's request for a mother and father is too big to fit in his sack. He promises to try, but leaves her with only that fragile hope. Ethel Calvert Phillips wrote this early 20th-century tale with quiet devastation disguised as gentle holiday cheer. The book understands that the hardest wishes to make are the ones that reveal your deepest loneliness. Lydia is never maudlin or pitiful; she simply knows what she wants and isn't ashamed to ask for it. The story proceeds with warm, old-fashioned pacing as her wish hangs in the air like a question no one quite knows how to answer. It's a book for readers who fell in love with orphan stories and wondered, alongside these children, whether anyone would choose them.