When Alexander helps an old man instead of going to see the annual lighting of the Christmas torch, he does not realize the reward his kindness will bring.
Richard Paul Evans is an American author best known for writing *The Christmas Box* and, more recently, the Michael Vey series. Evans, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife Keri, five children, and one grandson.
Evans graduated with a B.A. from the University of Utah in 1984. While working as an advertising executive, he wrote a Christmas story for his children. Unable to find a publisher or an agent, he self-published the work in 1993 as a paperback novella entitled *The Christmas Box* and distributed it to bookstores in his community. The next year *The Christmas Box* hit #2 on the *New York Times* Best Seller list.
Released in hardcover in 1995, *The Christmas Box* (Simon & Schuster) became the first book to simultaneously reach the #1 position on the *New York Times* Best Seller List for both paperback and hardcover editions. That same year, the book was made into a television movie of the same title.
Evans has subsequently written 36 nationally best-selling books, including some for children, with conservative Christian themes and appealing to family values. His 1996 book *Timepiece* was made into a television movie, as were *The Locket* (1998), *A Perfect Day* (2006), *The Mistletoe Promise* (2016), and *The Mistletoe Inn* (2017).
In 1997, Evans founded Christmas Box House International, an organization devoted to building shelters and providing services for abused and neglected children. As of 2017, more than 35,000 children had been served by Christmas Box House facilities.
Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Paul_Evans)
