The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
In early December, a newly arrived widow named McDowell and her young son, Thomas, commission Jonathan for a Nativity Scene figurine set to replace a lost heirloom.He struggles through the night, finally allowing himself to grieve; using the likeness his late wife and child for Mary and Jesus, Jonathan is able complete the set and personally deliver it on Christmas Morning.One newspaper called it "the story of a gloomy woodcutter who gradually recovers his ability to find joy in life" and reported sales in the United States exceeding one million copies.For his part in that collaboration, Lynch won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject.[3] According to the retrospective citation, woodcarver Toomey accepts the job of creating nativity figurines for a widow and her son, and thereby resolves long-held grief for his own wife and child.