Monday, December 21, 2009

Secrets of a Christmas Box - Steven Hornby


Ever wonder what the Christmas ornaments are doing in the box over the year? Well - waiting to be unpacked of course.

And that's the Secret of the Christmas Box - that the ornaments come alive once a year for the time they're on the tree.

Larry the snowman ornament and his friends set out to find his missing brother. Joined by various other ornaments and foiled by some evil lights, this makes for an entertaining Christmas tale. It actually has twenty four chapters and would make a great lead up to Christmas read with young ones.

The book is listed as being for reading level 8-12. I think that 10-12 year olds may find the story a bit juvenile, especially as the children in the story are 5 and 7. Some of the phrases used may be a bit dated or specific to country ( Hornby hails from Britain) such as 'guts for garters'.

Hornby is an award winning animator originally planned for "Secrets" as a screenplay. I think it would make an excellent animated tale, perhaps more so than a book.

5 comments:

Patti V. said...

This sounds kind of fun.

Donna said...

I read this one too and I agree with your comments. I was a bit confused with the age recommendation. It seems like a good book for parents to read to their children.

bermudaonion said...

I don't have any little ones to share this with, so I think I'll skip it. Thanks for your review.

Anonymous said...

My daughter's 9 and she loved this one.

Becca said...

Sounds like fun! I should look into it before Christmas next year to read to my students.