Nicola Palmer

This is the first Nicola Palmer book I have read and I admit I fell for the Christmas theme.  It's a delight!

One Strange Christmas

Amazon.com One Strange Christmas

My review -

In this delightful short story for children, nine year old Jake wishes for something exciting to happen on Christmas morning. He believes firmly in Father Christmas - he's seen him! He wakes up to a heavy fall of blue snow - and the day becomes stranger still. It's a story for children which doesn't talk down to them and is a very pleasant read for an adult too. We meet Jake's family - his older brother Ben, who no longer believes in Santa, elves, even magic.

The writing style is easy for a child to follow - I'm going to try it on my 8 year old Granddaughter over the holiday! It doesn't patronise though, and is eloquent enough to engage an adult's attention. I love to try a few Christmas stories at this time of year and this one is a good one! It touches upon the heavily burdened mum, cooking the dinner for family and guests, the dad who has to work on the day and misses out on family time, but mainly, young Jake, who feels people are missing the magic of the season by falling asleep after lunch. I agree with him. If you haven't got children to read this story to, read it for yourself and remember when you felt the magic. You'll enjoy it.