The Birds' Christmas Carol (Classics To Go)

The story is about Carol Bird a Christmas-born child who as a young girl is unusually loving and generous having a positive effect on everyone with whom she comes into contact. She is the youngest member of her family and has devoted older brothers. At about the age of 5 Carol contracts an unspecified illness (possibly tuberculosis) and by the time she is 10 she is bedridden; physicians say that she does not have long to live. The novel primarily involves Carol making plans for a Christmas celebration for the nine Ruggles children a poor working-class family living near the Birds. The book is a wistful moral tale about a saintly child but is enlivened by many humorous scenes particularly those concerning the home life of the Ruggles family. (Excerpt from Wikipedia)