Christmas Reading for 8yrs+
I know it’s getting late in the Christmas season, but you might still be trying to find a good Christmas themed book for your established independent reader. I have read three such books that I am happy to recommend.
The Christmasauras, by Tom Fletcher and Shane Devries
From the title, you can probably guess that his book combines the theme of Christmas with another very popular book theme for kids – dinosaurs. Basically, a dinosaur thaws out at the North Pole and while liking the elves and Santa etc still feels lonely. Meanwhile far away from the North Pole, William, a wheelchair-bound only child who lives with his Christmas obsessed father is also feeling lonely. He used to get along with his friends, that was before Brenda moved in and ruined William’s life.
My 8 year old loved this one. I liked reading it separately from him and talking about the characters and events. We both were shocked at Brenda’s level bullying towards William, who’s mother died and is in a wheelchair.
This book is very heavy on the Christmas theme. There are elves and reindeer, Santa is
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, by Karina Yan Glaser
The Christmas force is less strong with this one. While the events all take place in December and culminate on Christmas Day, it could just have easily been set at a different time of the year. The characters are not mythical and there is no Christmas ‘magic’. Instead, we have an ‘ordinary’ family, but I use that word loosely, as there are no books about ordinary things (because no one wants to read such a book).
The
For grown-ups (me) parts of the story were a little saccharine, or maybe I’m just envious of a fictional family of siblings who are that talented, creative, independent and co-operative. The kids are resourceful, they know each others strengths and weaknesses and they try to be caring and thoughtful.
There will be a lot of kids who will love this type of book. The content is suitable for 8yrs+, but only for fully independent readers as there are no illustrations of characters to really give the reader a hint.
Also good news for fans: there is a second book which was published very recently.
Winterhouse, by Ben Guterson
Winterhouse is another story set around Christmastime in the northern hemisphere. There is snow, skiing, sledding
The story follows a plot that will remind some readers of the typical “Harry Potter” plot: child lives with unfriendly Aunt and Uncle – child arrives at opulent and unexpected castle-like setting under mysterious circumstances – child makes good friend who can help child navigate the new world – child meets benevolent, but also enigmatic, elderly mentor who seems to be hiding secrets – child sometimes breaks the rules and finds out information that leads them down a potentially dangerous path.
When I put it like that is sounds really similar, but the whole vibe of Winterhouse is unique and will really appeal to a variety of kids. Woven through the story are themes of magic and mystery. There is also a very strong puzzle theme to the book. Elizabeth and her new found friend, Freddy, do word puzzles and set each other a scavenger hunt. There is a pretty serious code which gets used in the story, and kids will love to use that. Elizabeth is also a bookworm and there are many references to the books she has read. I love when authors do this, for 3 reasons: 1) if the reader has read the book that gets mentioned they get a mini literary pat on the back; 2) again if the reader knows the books it gives them a better insight into the character; and 3) if the reader hasn’t read the book it gets them interested in other books.
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