LoveReading Says
Matt Haigh follows his best-selling A Boy Called Christmas with another festive treat, a brand new story of Father Christmas, his elf and reindeer friends, that is full of magic and has an evergreen message for one and all. Father Christmas is faced with all sorts of problems to overcome if the world’s children are going to get their presents, and a lot depends on little Amelia Wishart, the girl whose belief in him used to be so strong it could generate magic.
Two adventures unfold, one set in Elfhelm, one in Victorian England, both allowing lots of opportunities for excitement, and laughs too, and held together with the all-encompassing magic of hope. Chris Mould deserves special mention for his glorious illustrations of trolls and villainous humans. One for the Christmas wish list.
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The Girl Who Saved Christmas Synopsis
A journey to the edge of magic.
The next magical book in the festive series, begun with A Boy Called Christmas, from Number One bestselling author Matt Haig. At the end of A Boy Called Christmas, (the story of how a boy named Nikolas grew up to be Father Christmas) eight-year-old Amelia is the first child to wake up on the first ever Christmas Day to find a stocking at the end of her bed filled with parcels. The Girl Who Saved
Christmas begins one year later, when Amelia writes to Father Christmas to ask for him for a very important gift – for her Ma to get better.
If magic has a beginning, can it also have an end? When Amelia wants a wish to come true she knows just the man to ask - Father Christmas. But the magic she wants to believe in is starting to fade, and Father Christmas has more than impossible wishes to worry about. Upset elves, reindeers dropping out of the sky, angry trolls and the chance that Christmas might be cancelled.
But Amelia isn't just any ordinary girl. And - as Father Christmas is going to find out - if Christmas is going to be saved, he might not be able to do it alone ...
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781782118602 |
| Publication date: |
12th October 2017 |
| Author: |
Matt Haig |
| Publisher: |
Canongate Books |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
328 pages |
| Reading age: |
7+ |
| Primary Genre |
Young Adult Fiction
|
| Other Genres: |
|
Matt Haig Press Reviews
The traditional search 'n' rescue adventure, done with charm, energy and enough wit to keep even the adults who will be reading this aloud as a festive bedtime story alert . . . A lovely, warm, enveloping seasonal read -
Guardian -
Tells us the origins of Christmas as we know it . . . Haig gently infuses his charming book with lessons on caring for each other and the power of hope -
Mail on Sunday -
If somewhere in the afterlife Roald Dahl met Charles Dickens and they cooked up a new Christmas tale, it couldn't have much on this fleet, verbally rambunctious, heart-stealing follow-up to A Boy Called Christmas -
New York Times -
The Girl Who Saved Christmas will melt your Grinch-frozen heart -- SIMON MAYO A plucky adventure tale in which Haig reminds us of and reworks the meaning of Christmas, pinning it onto a message of hope . . . Heartwarming -
The Herald -
The sequel to last year's A Boy Called Christmas . . . will enchant children and melt the hearts of even the most cynical adults. Beautifully illustrated, and full of sly jokes and heartfelt wisdom, this is another Christmas cracker -
Sunday Mirror -
Oh what fun it is to READ! . . . It's funny, sad and . . . full of wonderful characters. (We all need a Truth Pixie in our lives...) -
Daily Mail -
An evocative, inventive and lively tale full of heart and humour -
Daily Express -
Funny, heartfelt, pacey and with brilliant illustrations . . . A homage to Charles Dickens that may well endure as long as the work of that great man himself -
Associated Press -
Haig's understanding of grief, cruelty and the need for hope turns a comedy about threatened elves and malfunctioning magic into a classic. A hanky for every eye and a copy in every stocking for eight plus readers, please -
New Statesman -
About Matt Haig
Matt Haig is an author for children and adults. His memoir Reasons to Stay Alive was a number one bestseller, staying in the British top ten for 46 weeks. His children’s book A Boy Called Christmas was a runaway hit and is translated in over 40 languages. It is being made into a film starring Maggie Smith, Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent and The Guardian called it an ‘instant classic’. His novels for adults include the award-winning How To Stop Time, The Radleys, The Humans and the number one bestseller The Midnight Library.
He has sold over three million books worldwide.
Matt Haig on his teen novel, The Radleys:
"This is a story about growing up, first and foremost. About how we learn to come to terms with who we are, independent of the ideas our parents had for us. About how we decide our own identities. As well as what shapes those identities - who we choose to love, and hate, admire and fear. It is about how denying ourselves can sometimes be more dangerous than succumbing to tempation. This is the story I wanted to tell. I never set out to write a vampire story, but vampires were the obvious choice. After all, as family secrets go, you can't get much bigger than finding out you are actually a full-blown creature of the night. And hopefully it fits as a metaphor for teenage life. A life full of physical changes, forbidden cravings, and feelings of being an outsider. In that sense, we've probably all been vampires at some stage."
Author photo © Clive Doyle
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