In “Ben’s Christmas Carol,” we meet Tim and Ben, two mice from two very different worlds. To Tim, frost in the air means another day that he must fight for his survival. To Ben, it means that Christmas is coming, and a feast with lots of good things for him to eat. However, Ben doesn’t know just how blessed he is. Christmas is just another day, after all – another day of food and nibbling. There’s nothing all that special about it, really. When he passes Tim on the street, he doesn’t pay any attention to how cold and hungry Tim looks. He’s got to get home to his own nice warm bed.
Late on Christmas Eve, a visitor comes knocking on Ben’s window. He’s been tossing and turning, so the interruption didn’t pull him out of sleep, but it was unwelcome anyway. He grudgingly lets the visitor in, a thin mouse who calls himself Jake. He compliments Ben on the fine candied plum he has for his Christmas dinner, and Ben replies that there’s nothing more anyone could want than a fine candied plum.
Jake bets Ben that he can find three people who want more than a plum, and Ben takes him up on the wager. They head out into the cold, Ben bringing his plum for safekeeping.
They go to a Christmas party, the nicest and happiest one Ben has ever seen. Amazingly enough, though, the partiers were dressed in rags and had little to eat, even though they seemed so happy. Jake challenges Ben to offer them his plum, on the condition that they have to celebrate Christmas alone in order to get it. They can’t share the plum with anyone – they have to eat it alone. No one takes him up on his offer.
Next they go to an old inn, and find several mice gathered to drink in the season. Someone suggests a toast to Ben, but the mice won’t drink it. Not realizing Ben is in their midst, they say that Ben is too mean of a mouse and they won’t drink his health. Not even for a nice candied plum.
Then they visit Tim. He’s cold in his bed, thin blankets pulled over him, and Ben realizes that if he’d paid more attention to his friend, he could have helped him out more. Tim is too sick to want the plum.
Back they go to Ben’s house. Ben is determined to change. He falls asleep, pledging to do his part, and as Christmas morning dawns, he scurries off to Tim’s house, bringing Tim the plum. Then they head out to celebrate Christmas together, and Ben was careful to always share what he had with Tim from then on.
The most interesting thing about this book to me is the fact that it’s set against the backdrop of Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol.” Ben lives in Ebenezer Scrooge’s walls, and we can see Scrooge having his own visits throughout the night in the background of Ben and Tim’s story.
(This book was published in 1996 by Dutton Children’s Books and was illustrated by Ruth Brown.)
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