The True Meaning of Myrrh: A Christmas Day
Ice Cube Press, 2016

Category: Fiction
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 1888160934
ISBN-13: 978-1888160932

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About the Book
The True Meaning of Myrrh is an amusing, and classic look at the holiday season. “Deftly, and with refreshing honesty and humor, the book evokes what family means. A classic Christmas tale. Delightful illustrations.”–Mel Howards, Author of Provocations: the wit, wisdom, and whimsy of Mel Howards

It isn’t fair. Len’s been asking for hockey gloves since before Thanksgiving but when he opens the only promising-looking box left under the tree, there they are: house slippers. Meanwhile his older brother Sam receives not only the sophisticated smoking jacket he asked for but a tape recorder to capture all the “magic” in his “special holiday broadcast,” Christmas with the Rossini Family, 1966, brought to you by Butternut Bread.

Making matters worse, the boys’ politically divided parents have a serious falling-out while driving home from Mass–something to do with the Holy Family versus the welfare state–and now they’re not talking.

“Some Christmas,” Dad declares, opening a late-morning beer.

Will Len manage to rise above the bitter disappointment of house slippers? Will his parents reach across the aisle for the sake of the day? Will Sam learn a Christmas lesson that doesn’t fit smoothly into his “holiday broadcast”?

In John Manderino’s The True Meaning of Myrrh, these and other questions get answered, including what is myrrh, anyway.

Editorial Review:
I felt like I was riding on Len’s shoulder as he navigated Christmas Day, interacting with his older brother and his parents. I love John Manderino’s sense of humor and his ability to serve up Len’s thoughts, feelings and thirteen-year-old wisdom. –Mort Mather, author of A Stone’s Throw, Orvie’s Stories.