Christmas in the Trenches

IT IS COLD AND CLEAR on Christmas Eve night in 1914. Francis Tolliver and his fellow British soldiers are holed up in muddy trenches along the Western Front. Their enemies--German soldiers--lie in wait just across a field known as "No Man's Land." Suddenly a strange sound pierces the darkness. Someone is singing a Christmas carol in German. Other German voices join in. When the song ends, Thomas and the other British soldiers sing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." Soon carols are sung back and forth across No Man's Land. Then a figure emerges in the dark, carrying a small Christmas tree with lighted candles. Slowly the British and German soldiers leave their trenches, and the war, behind to stand together in the open field. Christmas in the Trenchesis based on a song McCutcheon wrote back in 1983. In his author's note at the end of the volume he relates how that song came to be created: I first heard about the 1914 Christmas truce from a backstage janitor in a Birmingham Alabama Concert Hall. I was so taken with this woman's story I wrote the entire song "Christmas in the Trenches" during the intermission of my concert that night. Henri S?rensen's formal, full-color oil paintings reinforce the emotional power and dignity of the story. The result is a timeless tale that will capture the imagination of readers of all ages.

JOHN MCCUTCHEON IS ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST REESPECTED FOLKSINGERS. HIS TWENTY-NINE RECORDINGS HAVE GARNERED NUMEROUS HONORS, INCLUDING FIVE CONSECUTIVE GRAMMY NOMINATIONS. THIS BOOKS IS BASED ON HIS SONG ALSO ENTITLED "CHRISTMAS IN THE TRENCHES", WHICH HE WROTE IN 1984. HIS SONG "HAPPY ADOPTION DAY" WAS ALSO ADAPTED FOR A CHILDREN'S BOOK. HE LIVES IN CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA