This is the Christmas entry in Mendel's Tuckers series, about a family of five children, stay-at-home-mom, and a dad who runs a variety store with his father. The stories are usually simple, but sometimes humorous, sometimes dramatic situations around family life.
Cottage Holiday revolves around seven-year-old Penny, who's the often-sick member of the family, who's tired of being pampered and longs to discover what she's good at like her talented brothers and sisters. She wishes the whole family could spend Christmas at the family's summer cottage on the lake—and what a surprise to discover that her doctor says she is well enough to go!
The rest of the story involves the kids' adventures on the lake, which includes hiking, hunting a lost calf with some young friends who live on a nearby farm, finding an abandoned baby, and coping with the fact that a renegade cougar is prowling the area.
The main charm of this story is nostalgia: the kids sometimes quarrel, but they love each other as well; their simple adventures encompass positive values without being preachy. This story is particularly charming because Penny, who's usually a background character, comes into her own here. Her baby steps into finding herself gives it an introspective undercurrent that the other books don't have.
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