What a fantastic take on the traditional Christmas story. This delightfully told story about family Christmas traditions combined with a mystery to solve is sure to appeal to children and would be fantastic as a class reader. I can't wait to see the illustrations which accompany this amusing tale.

Wow, I enjoyed this book so much. Having read Jenny Pearson's previous books, I was expecting good things for this and it certainly didn't disappoint.
A delightful Christmas adventure with lots of fun, laugh out loud moments and a few tears too.
Oscar, his little sister Molly and their parents go to stay with their grandparents in the run up to Christmas. One night, they are awoken by a bright light and loud noise, to discover the Angel Gabriel has managed to travel through time with a few other essential Nativity stars and thus begins an adventure and race against time to save Christmas.
Highly recommend, can't wait to have the paper copy with all the completed illustrations.

What a delightful festive story!! Poor Oscar has a huge task on his hands - he has to help the angel Gabriel to locate Mary, Joseph, Balthazar, Steve (he's a shepherd!) and THE donkey in order to get them back to their own time because otherwise THERE WILL BE NO MORE CHRISTMAS!!! Amusing capers soon ensue but the story has much to say about the real meaning of Christmas - it's not just about the gifts, it's a time for family, helping others and traditions. The angel Gabriel has some very wise words to say on the subject of grief too, you will swing between chuckles and 'oh I appear to have something in my eye' with this MG tale.

Finished! Laughed (a lot) and cried.
Will definitely be added to our Christmas Collection and be highly recommended.
#RfP
@J_C_Pearson @Usborne @NetGalley

In the middle of the summer holidays and during the second heatwave of the year might not strike most people as the ideal time to be reading Christmassy books. When said book is the latest offering from Jenny Pearson – the go-to writer for titles which combine laugh-out-loud funny moments with those lump-in-the-throat, not-a-dry-eye-in-the-house ones, then no matter the weather or time of the year, it needs to be read.

And so I found myself yesterday with this fabulous title downloaded onto my Kindle, sitting on the sofa in front of the fan, with everything else in my TBR pile pushed to one side so that I could immerse myself in what will surely be an extremely well-received present in many homes at Christmas this year, and one of those perennial favourites that is read and re-read as part of individual readers’ or families’ traditions.

For many, those traditions are an essential part of the festivities and for Oscar’s wealthy grandmother that is especially true. Determined to celebrate Christmas her own way, she has summoned Oscar’s family to Barlington Hall to spend the holiday with her and her husband putting on the family nativity. Unable to think of a good enough reason to avoid going, Oscar’s parents are put under additional pressure to say yes by the news that Grandfather is not well.

Arriving late at night, Oscar and younger sister Molly are packed off to the nursery to sleep but before they settle down they hear a loud noise outside which sounds like a plane flying dangerously close to the house, followed by something on the roof and tiles cascading to the ground. As if this was not strange enough, a brilliant flash of white light illuminates the room through a gap in the curtains and they spot something flying across the sky. With Molly convinced that an ahead of schedule Santa is to blame for what they have seen and heard, the two siblings sneak outside to investigate.

Rather than Santa, they find what at first glance Oscar thinks is a pile of washing but Molly insists is an angel. This is no ordinary angel though – the visitor is the Archangel Gabriel who, after convincing Oscar that he really is who he says he is, reveals that he has accidentally transported a heavily pregnant Mary and several other figures from the nativity story 2,000 years forward in time and needs to not only send them back to where they should be, but locate them first. Without Oscar and Molly’s help, not only will Christmas never have existed but their parents will never have met. With the big day rapidly approaching, can the two of them help Gabriel to round up Mary and the others and will they be in time to save not only Christmas but themselves?

With most of the country celebrating Christmas, whether or not they are Christians, not only does each family have their own traditions but each family has the right traditions. When my own children were little, I very firmly put my foot down that the day itself would be for the four of us and the four of us only – largely to avoid any friction due to differences of opinion as to how the day should be spent. For Oscar and Molly’s parents, the family nativity is very much not their idea of fun but they go along with it out of love for Grandmother and Grandfather – something that can be a hard concept for children to understand but here is explored with a deep empathy, as you would expect from the writer.

For Oscar and Molly though, not only are they expected to take part in the theatricals but they suddenly find themselves having to assist Gabriel to find those who are missing, leading – of course – to much hilarity. Oscar is older and more serious whereas Molly is more interested in such frivolities as dressing up in an assortment of onesies – much to her snooty grandmother’s horror. Where he tries his best to keep what is going on a secret, Molly speaks in the open and honest way that many young children do, with the result – of course – that her revelations are not believed.

There is a lot of humour here which children and their grown ups will enjoy together and some which will be appreciated more by the adults doing the reading but no matter what age you are, I think you will see aspects of yourself and your family reflected in the story’s characters, making this the perfect shared read leading up to Christmas Day. Aimed at readers 9 years upwards, Operation Nativity publishes in Hardback on October 13th. Ahead of that date, my enormous thanks must go to publisher Usborne and to Net Galley for my virtual advance read.