• Age: 7 to 10
• Grade: 2 to 5

This favourite tale of Christmas gone awry is now available for a new generation of readers!

This year, Lorinda and her brother James want to buy their mother the best Christmas present ever. Lorinda has her eye on one very special item, but they'll need to come up with some brilliant money-making ideas if they want to get it in time for Christmas! Of course, nothing goes according to plan . . . but the siblings are determined to make this a holiday their mother will never forget.

Young readers will identify with this familiar holiday dilemma, and delight in Lorinda and James's creative solution (not to mention all the bumps along the way). The Best Worst Christmas Present Ever is an earnest, uplifting story that will get kids in the holiday spirit at Christmas time — and all year round!

Budge Wilson (b. 1927) was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and lived in Kingston, Ontario, before moving back to North West Cove, Nova Scotia. A former commercial artist and photographer, she has written more than twenty books, many of them for children and young adults; her awards include the Ann Connor Brimer Award for children's literature. "Mr. Manuel Jenkins" is included in her story collecton The Leaving (Anansi, 1991).

Budge Wilson's profile page

• Commended, Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre

Praise for The Best Worst Christmas Present Ever:

"A Christmas story for all seasons." —Kids Toronto

"A lively, fast-paced book . . . [that] will elicit both sympathy and laughter." —Canadian Review of Materials