I chose to read the book The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck (published by Threshold Editions A Division of Simon & Schuster, Incorporated). Glenn Beck is a nationally known Conservative Republican. He is best known for his work on Fox News Radio and TV. Mr. Beck has written several books including The Christmas Sweater, Broke, and An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World’s Biggest Problems. The main theme of The Christmas Sweater is to be thankful for everything you have, even if it is not want you wanted. The main character wants one thing but gets something else instead and is not very grateful for the item he got instead. I have read this book several times now and have fallen in love with it every time. It teaches a valuable lesson of gratitude that is especially important during the Christmas season; which is when the book is based and also the time period in which it was released.
While The Christmas Sweater is mostly flashbacks into Eddie’s (the main character) past, quite a bit is set in the current time period of the book. There are a few main points that are included throughout The Christmas Sweater. The first is gratitude; this is very prevalent throughout the book and is what the title is based on. The second is attitude; Eddie’s attitude towards everything changes several times throughout the book. The third main point is love; Eddie had to learn to love his family even more than he did before and to love his Christmas present, even if it was not what he wanted.
Eddie had to learn to be grateful for the Christmas sweater that his mother knitted for him because it was the only thing she could afford to do for him. When he first received it, he hated it. He called it “a stupid, handmade, ugly sweater that wasn't a bike.” His mother didn't like his attitude toward the best gift she could make. “The pain in her voice and disappointment on her face shouldn't have surprised me, but it did.” Eddie had to learn to change his attitude towards everything as well. Eddie lost his happy attitude when he received his Christmas sweater, he got even sourer after his mother died and he had to move to his grandparent’s house. After a while of being mad at everything, Eddie realized that he was tired “tired of being alone, tired of being mad all the time, tired of keeping my guilt caged....” Eddie’s grandfather recognized what Eddie was feeling he said that “’I know you want to be mad at someone…if you need to get through the day, then be mad at me. But don’t be angry at God. He hasn't done this to you. Things just happen. Sometimes it’s a consequence of our actions, other times it’s not. Occasionally it’s just that bad things happen to good people. But God’s only plan is for you to be happy.’” As far as love is concerned, Eddie had to learn to love his mother for everything she had done for him, even when they had very little money. He had to learn to love his grandparents for taking him in and teaching him everything he needed to know to survive anything. Eddie even had to learn to love the “stupid, handmade, ugly sweater that wasn't a bike.” Eventually, Eddie learned to love all of these things and learned to love his Christmas sweater that was made with love.
Glenn Beck’s purpose for writing The Christmas Sweater was to explain how an attitude of gratitude and an attitude of love are two of the most important things that can be expressed to anyone. I would say that the purpose was met and was very well explained. The Christmas Sweater is a very entertaining book that can be enjoyed by anyone who can read. The characters are all very realistic because they are based on Glenn Beck and his family.
The main theme of The Christmas Sweater is to be thankful for everything you have, even if it is not want you wanted. The main character wants one thing but gets something else instead and is not very grateful for the item he got instead. There are a few main points that are included throughout The Christmas Sweater. The first is gratitude. The second is attitude. And the third is love. I have read this book several times now and have fallen in love with it every time because it teaches a valuable lesson of gratitude.