A Gift for the Children

An illustrated treasury of stories for kids, including two Christmas tales, from the beloved Pulitzer and Nobel Prize–winning author of The Good Earth.
 
This collection of more than twenty stories brings readers back to the timeless fascinations of childhood—thunderstorms and star-filled skies, rabbits and rosebushes—and journeys into the larger world we discover as we grow older, learning about foreign languages and different cultures, or responsibilities like caring for an elderly grandparent. It also includes two Christmas classics, as well as a humorous tale of how cats and dogs came to dislike each other.
 
Divided into sections for both little children and bigger ones, A Gift for the Children is a joy in any season, whether you’re reading out loud at bedtime or encouraging kids to read on their own. From the New York Times–bestselling author famed for her travels and adventures, particularly in China, it’s a delightful, heartwarming, and enriching volume of short fiction.    

Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) was a bestselling and Nobel Prize–winning author. Her classic novel The Good Earth (1931) was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and William Dean Howells Medal. Born in Hillsboro, West Virginia, Buck was the daughter of missionaries and spent much of the first half of her life in China, where many of her books are set. In 1934, civil unrest in China forced Buck back to the United States. Throughout her life she worked in support of civil and women’s rights, and established Welcome House, the first international, interracial adoption agency. In addition to her highly acclaimed novels, Buck wrote two memoirs and biographies of both of her parents. For her body of work, Buck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938, the first American woman to have done so. She died in Vermont.