The Boat of Dreams: A Christmas Story
by Richard Preston Illustrated by George Henry Jennings The time is not quite Christmas, 1969. Will T. Foster, Jr. and his younger sister Lila believe that their trailor is haunted by a fat guy whom they've seen on occasion. Their father is missing believed dead, a casualty of the Vietnam war. Their family is facing financial hardship as there is nothing left to pay the rent on the land their trailor sits on, except a boat that their father had loved and that their mother had consequently refused to sell.
When Will and Lila next see their ghost, they find out that his name is Nicholaus Dexter Claus- Santa Claus. Santa's got a problem. The previous year, he and his sled crashed into the hoover dam, and so this year he is in need of something in which to transport his goods. His goods are not physical presents but dreams. He decides to use the Fosters' boat to give out dreams that year.
On Christmas, Will and Lila go with Santa and disperse dreams. Will finds out that Santa is really God. My favorite excerpt:
He hung over the side and boomed: "I have a dream, that all God's children- black, white, red, yellow,and every other amazing color- are walking together in the rain and in the dust and in the hot sun, and they are helping one another down the long road wherever it goes. I dreamed you were hit by a car and it was a wondrous piece of luck, because when you were lying on the pavement and dying in pain, it occured to you that you were alive!"
This book has a surreal quality that is added by the presentation; the ink is blue. Happy reading.
