Hannah Greyweather is poor and alone, gathering kindling in a cold forest, and she finds a single black boot. It fits. Warm for the first time in a long while, she says out loud that she only wishes she had its mate, and in the morning there are two boots sitting by her bed.

The wishes keep coming true, each one a little larger, and the story earns every step of it before the visitor arrives at her door: a man with a white beard, a red suit, and only one boot. What Santa leaves behind on the last page is the thing Hannah actually needed, and it is not a boot.

Jerry Pinkney, a five time Caldecott Honor recipient and Caldecott medalist, painted this in watercolor at full bleed across a very large trim. The snow has weight. Hannah's face carries the whole plot without the text having to explain it. It is the kind of illustration that makes an adult slow down mid read aloud.

Shelved next to The Polar Express and The Night Before Christmas, and it holds its own there. A hardcover to buy once and bring out every December.