Member Reviews

What a wonderful follow on story in the world of snow and Father Christmas that Matt Haig has created. I have bought all of the titles and they are a magical start to the festive season.

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Thanks to NetGalley and Canongate Books for the ARC of this book.

I wish Matt Haig’s series of kid’s books about the origin and early years of Father Christmas had been around when I was a child. I would have loved them! ‘Santa Claus the Movie’ was my favourite film and these books would have been right up my street. This series would make a fabulous Christmas present for a 9/10 year old. The stories are fun and the illustrations are humourous and enhance the stories well.

I listened to the first book in the series ‘A Boy Called Christmas’ as an audiobook. It’s exquisitely read by Stephen Fry. I thought it was an enjoyable tail but slightly trailed off into a bit too much exposition at the end. This book, the second in the series, is plotted much more tightly and is a great festive adventure. Christmas is in danger because Amelia, the girl who most believed in the magic of Christmas, is losing her faith, and trolls are attacking Father Christmas’s home Elfhelm. On Christmas Eve Father Christmas sets out to Victorian England to save Amelia, the elves and Christmas.

I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read it with my daughter when she is old enough, I’m sure she’ll find it a magical experience.

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Thank you Netgalley for my review copy.
I have to confess that I am a big fan of Matt Haig and I love the illustrations of Chris Mould so I was probably always going to give this book a positive review. In trying to get in the Christmas mood, this was perfect for brightening my lead up to Christmas. I loved the little details that Matt has put into the book and the way each and every character has their own back story and little eccentricities. The illustrations just adds to my imagination as does the input of the famous figures of Queen Victoria & Albert and Charles Dickens. Superb!
Perfect for any parents wanting a book to read aloud to their children at Christmas

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A truly worthwhile sequel to a boy called Christmas. Can't wait for the third instalment next year!

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I didn’t love the first installment in this middle grade series nearly as much as I had hoped, so I was hoping for more from The Girl Who Saved Christmas - I ended up enjoying it a lot more.

On Christmas Eve, Father Christmas travels to London in 1841 to visit Amelia, the girl who gave the world enough hope for Christmas to begin, and he needs her help again. I loved the journey through Victorian London; meeting Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria and exploring the poverty, illness and workhouses of the period really made the whole book twice as Christmassy for some way.

The messages of hope, magic and finding light in the dark were all wonderful and gave me the serious warm fuzzies, but I did find the final quarter of the book a little too much. There was such a lot going on what with Noosh, Father Christmas and Amelia in London and an unexpected (and, I think, unnecessary) romance coming out of nowhere. It all made the end a little rushed and a little forced.

The Girl Who Saved Christmas is a lovely Christmas story all about hope and magic that I can see being the perfect bedtime story in the few nights running up to Christmas.

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I loved this! A perfect Christmas read! It was funny, clever and Matt clearly has nuance of Christmas to make the characters meld so well into a season which is already clogged with memorable characters. I would buy this for people of any age and highly recommend it to all readers! A perfect bit of Christmas fun!

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A sweet Christmassy story full of warmth and humour.

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A lovely book combining adventure, humour and some sadness (tears). The perfect Christmas bedtime read for my 7 year old daughter and me . We both really liked it.

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