The Girl Who Saved Christmas (Boy Called Christmas)

Amelia has a lot of belief in Father Christmas. So much, in fact, that her hope was enough to kickstart Christmas when she was 8. But when the next year rolled around and Santa and the reindeer were getting ready to start his yearly trip around the world to deliver presents, the elves and their homes were attacked by trolls. Not only that, but the amount of hope needed for the reindeer to fly and for Santa to stop time was low. Too low.But Father Nicholas isn't about to let the tradition of Christmas go. After rebuilding, he knows that all he needs is the help of Amelia once again. So he sets off for London with the little bit of magic he has to visit Amelia first. Only, when he gets to her home, she's not there. Amelia had been taken to a workhouse and instead of being the child with the most hope is not the child with the least. And Amelia's loss of hope could spell the end of Christmas forever...I loved The Boy Called Christmas, so I was definitely excited to read this sequel. In the tradition of Charles Dickens, who also has a cameo in the story, we have a story about Christmas and the harshness of life in Victorian England blended with some trouble at the North Pole that could make fulfilling Christmas difficult, if not impossible.It's hard to say much about this story without getting into spoiler territory, so I'll just say that if you enjoyed The Boy Called Christmas, then you will probably like this one. In addition, if you listened to the first one, then you will probably also enjoy listening to this one. It does have a different narrator - Carey Mulligan - since the main character, Amelia, is female, but she does just as wonderful a job, And though it's a minor part of the story, I think my favorite part was the scene with Queen Victoria and Albert, and the voices she used for the two of them. I still giggle a bit when I think about it.

"The Girl Who Saved Christmas" is a wonderfully written older children's Christmas novel much in the same style and spirit of C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Readers will be captivated from the beginning to end of this 329 page novel. There are great black and white line drawings throughout the book which enhance the text.The book is almost like two dual stories in one - although they are directly connected. Both stories are examples of the classic battle between good and evil and the triumph of good over evil in the end. On the one hand there is the battle between the Trolls and Pixies who attack Elfheim where Father Christmas and the many elves live making Christmas gifts for all the world's children on Christmas. On the other hand you have the sad story of Amelia, whose mother dies and she has to go to the horrid Mr. Creeper's workhouse. Due to the hope, belief and optimism of this little girl, Amelia, good overcomes evil in the story.This author is very talented and definitely has a gift for children's writing. While I am not one who cannot see the forest for the trees and am not one who is easily offended, there are one or two things I find disturbing. After Amelia's Mother dies, Mr. Creeper - the embodiment of everything evil in the story comes to take Amelia to his dreaded workhouse. The author describes Mr. Creeper in the following manner - "a tall well dressed almost-skeleton wearing a long dark coat and top hat; he was carrying a Bible and a shining black cane. His eyes were as grey as the creeping London fog on the street behind him." Now, I am not sure why the author chose to put a Bible in the hand of the embodiment of evil in the the form of Mr. Creeper. However, this is offensive to many who have believed in the Bible and had their lives changed for the good through the teachings of the Bible. It is also interesting to note that the Bible and the great revivals in Wales and England did much to eventually abolish child labor laws and workhouses in England. The author also uses the word "Hell" once near the end of the book. That may also be offensive to someone. There may also be a slight problem with some of the wording in this novel because the author is British and uses British wording at several places that is not readily understood by American readers. Having said all that, I still have to say this book is a wonderful high interest children's book if you can ignore the Bible thing and the one time use of the word "Hell".

I know Matt Haig sometimes reads his Amazon reviews so if you're having a bad day, Matt, this is for you. I bought this as a present for a 7 year old having bought her A Boy Called Christmas last year. (She loved it - as did her mother). Sequels are hard; so I gave The Girl Who Saved Christmas a test run to make sure it was on a par.. I was not disappointed. Gosh, it was/is lovely. And there I was gobbling it down on my Kindle on my miserable commute to work when the days are short and dark and you just need something to keep you going until Christmas..My bigger bonus as a present-buyer was the book has a cat in it.. and this girl, well, she loves cats..I mean REALLY loves cats.. Even bigger bonus for you, Matt, is that her mother loved the sequel so much she bought her "Father Christmas and Me" as a Christmas present... Thank you for bringing so much pleasure (even though I did a little sob in the you-know-what bit at the beginning... ).

Bought this book 📖 as my 10 year old boy had been reading it in School. He is autistic and struggles to describe anything. The fact he could tell me this story I knew it was one we could share. Bought as a Christmas present.Defo one to buy for your child’s or a child you know bookshelf.

All three books in this series are magical.I read them all to my step daughters as bedtime books over December and I was hooked and so were the 4 and 7 year old girls.The story is both sad and uplifting drawing on life’s ups and downs and several historical wrongs involving the treatment of children.The books follow on beautifully from one another and Matt Haig takes his story and plants it firmly in your minds eye so you are almost living beside Nicholas and everyone he meets on his journey to becoming Father Christmas.Just beautifully written and magically charged books that every parent should have handy for Christmas bedtimes.Can’t wait till December 2019 so I can read them all again.

Great follow on from 'A boy called Christmas'. Another great tale of how important believing in magic really is, especially for the young. To believe something impossible is possible is a great lesson to teach any youngster, especially in today's society. Another read I'll look forward to sharing with my daughter when she's a few years older.

I managed to read A Boy Called Christmas and then Father Christmas and Me, but missed out The Girl Who Saved Christmas so I decided to buy t and read it. I just love Matt Haig's children's Christmas books. They are just wonderful and I cannot recommend them enough. Read them.