129. Letters from Father Christmas

129. Letters From Father Christmas. J.R.R. Tolkien. 1976/1999. 160 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Dear John, I heard you ask daddy what I was like and where I lived. I have drawn me and my house for you. Take care of the picture. I am just off now for Oxford with my bundle of toys--some for you. Hope I shall arrive in time: the snow is very thick at the North Pole tonight. Your loving Father Christmas.

ETA: I listened to this on audio read by Derek Jacobi! It was AWESOME. Cannot overstate it. Absolutely recommend this audio. There are other voice actors for the polar bear and I believe another recurring character.

Premise/plot: The earliest letter from 'Father Christmas' to the Tolkien children is 1920. The latest letter is dated 1943 to his daughter, Priscilla. The letters speak of Father Christmas' affairs--his adventures and misadventures. Little details about the Tolkiens slip through, of course. He refers to their letters in which they mention pets and toys, etc. He speaks of Polar Bear, his greatest assistant. He speaks of red elves--some. But Father Christmas has a war to fight of his own--against the goblins! (Christmas is almost sabotaged several times!)

 My thoughts: How quickly time flies! These letters capture moments. I suppose that's as good a way as any to describe this one. We don't get to see the children's letters to Father Christmas through the years, but, we do get to see Father Christmas's letters to the Tolkien children... But children don't write letters to Father Christmas forever, one by one they grow up and grow out of belief. Still these are moments where we catch glimpses of Tolkien as both loving parent and creative artist.

Near the North Pole

Christmas 1925

My dear boys,

I am dreadfully busy this year—it makes my hand more shaky than ever when I think of it—and not very rich; in fact awful things have been happening, and some of the presents have got spoilt, and I haven’t got the North Polar bear to help me, and I have had to move house just before Christmas, so you can imagine what a state everything is in, and you will see why I have a new address, and why I can only write one letter between you both.

It all happened like this: one very windy day last November my hood blew off and went and stuck on the top of the North Pole. I told him not to, but the North Polar Bear climbed up to the thin top to get it down—and he did. The pole broke in the middle and fell on the roof of my house, and the North Polar Bear fell through the hole it made into the dining room with my hood over his nose, and all the snow fell off the roof into the house and melted and put out all the fires and ran down into the cellars, where I was collecting this year’s presents, and the North Polar Bear’s leg got broken.

He is well again now, but I was so cross with him that he says he won’t try to help me again—I expect his temper is hurt, and will be mended by next Christmas. I send you a picture of the accident and of my new house on the cliffs above the North Pole (with beautiful cellars in the cliffs). If John can’t read my old shaky writing (one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five years old) he must get his father to. When is Michael going to learn to read, and write his own letters to me? Lots of love to you both and Christopher, whose name is rather like mine.

That’s all: Good Bye

Father Christmas

Cliff House

October 31st 1931

Dear Children,

Already I have got some letters from you! You are getting busy early. I have not begun to think about Christmas yet. It has been very warm in the North this year, and there has been very little snow so far. We are just getting in our Christmas firewood.

This is just to say my messengers will be coming round regularly now Winter has begun—we shall be having a bonfire tomorrow—and I shall like to hear from you: Sunday and Wednesday evenings are the best times to post to me.

The Polar Bear is quite well and fairly good—(though you never know what he will do when the Christmas rush begins.) Send my love to John.

Your loving

Father Nicholas Christmas

Glad Father Christmas has wakt up. He slept nearly all this hot summer. I wish we kood have snow. My coat is quite yellow.

Love Polar Bear

Cliff House,

near North Pole

Christmas Eve 1940

My Dearest Priscilla

Just a short letter to wish you a very happy Christmas. Please give my love to Christopher. We are having rather a difficult time this year. This horrible war is reducing all our stocks, and in so many countries children are living far from their homes. Polar Bear has had a very busy time trying to get our address-lists corrected. I am glad you are still at home!

I wonder what you will think of my picture. “Penguins don’t live at the North Pole,” you will say. I know they don’t, but we have got some all the same. What you would call “evacuees”, I believe (not a very nice word); except that they did not come here to escape the war, but to find it! They had heard such stories of the happenings up in the North (including a quite untrue story that Polar Bear and all the Polar Cubs had been blown up, and that I had been captured by Goblins) that they swam all the way here to see if they could help me. Nearly 50 arrived.

The picture is of Polar Bear dancing with their chiefs. They amuse us enormously: they don’t really help much, but are always playing funny dancing games, and trying to imitate the walk of Polar Bear and the Cubs.

Very much love from your old friend,

Father Christmas

 

 

 

© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

74. The Wild Robot Escapes

74. The Wild Robot Escapes. Peter Brown. 2018. 279 pages. [Source: Library] [j fiction, 3 stars, speculative fiction]

First sentence: Our story begins in a city, with buildings and streets and bridges and parks. Humans were strolling, automobiles were driving, airships were flying, robots were hard at work. 

Premise/plot: Roz [the Robot] now finds herself working on a farm far, far, far away from her island home and her son, Brightbill. Roz wants to escape, but, she must fool the humans into thinking she is a 'normal' fully functioning robot, a mere machine. Only when their guard is down AND after she's found a way to remove the tracking device can she make her move to escape. She finds herself befriending the farm animals and the farmer's children..... Will Roz make it back to her island home?

My thoughts: I didn't love this one as much as the first book. I'll clarify, I DEFINITELY wanted to know if Roz made it back to the island. I did. I wanted a happy ending for Roz and Brightbill. I didn't find myself loving the story as much in this second book. The first half was Roz befriending the children and getting them on her side. (Plus an intense situation with wolves regarding the cattle). The second half was Roz and Brightbill trying to get back to the island. This probably was meant to be an exciting adventure. Probably. Definitely. I found myself bored for the most part with this trek back. There was one part I definitely enjoyed which is when Roz met her literal maker....but except for a few scenes in a few chapters, it wasn't as compelling and enjoyable as I was hoping.

 

© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

72. The Wild Robot

  

72. The Wild Robot. Peter Brown. 2016. 282 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, j fantasy, j fiction] 

First sentence: Our story begins on the ocean, with wind and rain and thunder and lightning and waves. A hurricane roared and raged through the night. And in the middle of the chaos, a cargo ship was sinking down down down to the ocean floor. The ship left hundreds of crates floating on the surface. But as the hurricane thrashed and swirled and knocked them around, the crates also began sinking into the depths. One after another, they were swallowed up by the waves, until only five crates remained.

Premise/plot: Roz [a robot] finds herself on an island, an island inhabited by wildlife. The animals are scared of her--she's a MONSTER, of course, right?!?!--but as she observes the animals, slowly but surely, she learns their ways and becomes a wild robot. Her first friend is her 'son' Brightbill, a goose. The book follows several seasons...

My thoughts: The book The Wild Robot is not at all like the movie The Wild Robot. I loved the movie having never read the book. It was exciting, dramatic, well-paced, intense. The book, however, is much slower-paced, more heart and soul, quieter, subtler. The characters come across differently if you're comparing and contrasting. I enjoyed both. I did. But the book definitely is better....in my opinion.

 

© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

23. Happy Town

23. Happy Town. Greg Van Eekhout. 2024. [October 22] 208 pages. [Source: Library] [j fiction, mg fiction, j dystopia; mg dystopia, speculative fiction; 4 stars]

First sentence: "Welcome to Happy Town. We Make Happy." The cow-sized blimp sails over our new house, displaying the Happy Town motto in glowing letters. I still don't know much about Happy Town, but I do know that Happy Town doesn't make happy. Happy Town doesn't make anything. They sell everything, though: diapers, donuts, drones, phones, toilet paper, toothbrushes, lawn mowers, luggage, abacuses, applesauce, athlete's foot powder, art supplies, and thousands of other products. Happy Town is the biggest online shop in the world, and it's also my new home.

Premise/plot: Keegan is open to the idea of liking his new town, Happy Town, even though he's not thrilled with how often his parents are moving around. However, Happy Town may just have more secrets than it does products for sell. Fortunately, kids have a little safeguard in place--no imps just yet--but it may not be enough to protect them from zombie consumers...

My thoughts: I enjoyed this one. I didn't love, love, love it in an over-the-top gushy way. Yet it was all silly thrills and overall enjoyment. Keegan makes friends with Tank and Gloriana and the three of them may just have enough spunk to save themselves--and the clueless, mindless adults. The premise was fun. The characters were fun. Solidly enjoyable dystopia for younger readers.

 

© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

48. Olivetti

Olivetti. Allie Millington. 2024. 253 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: It's quite possible you've never spoken to a typewriter before. This is not your fault. Humans tend to think we can't understand them. But when you sit still for long enough, there is much you can learn. 

Premise/plot: Can a typewriter save a dysfunctional family? 

My thoughts: I am SO tempted to leave that description so sweet and short. Olivetti is a typewriter who sees all, hears all, and knows MUCH. The typewriter can type on its own to communicate with humans. Olivetti has lived with the Brindles [his human family] for many, many, many years. But when his owner suddenly takes him to the pawn shop and sells him...and then 'runs away' from her family....life gets messy. 

The premise isn't really one that grabbed me. It is strange, strange, super strange. However the writing/narration is great. I would say the writing was incredible. It is dual narration. Ernest Brindle (a young boy) is the other narrator.

The premise will either grab your attention or perhaps do the opposite. It really is STRANGE, but I would say the writing more than makes up for it. I wouldn't be surprised if this one got some award attention.

© 2024 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

5. A Bear Called Paddington

A Bear Called Paddington. Michael Bond. 1958. 159 pages. [Source: Bought] [Children's classic; animal fantasy]

First sentence: Mr and Mrs Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform.

Premise/plot: Paddington Bear has travelled all the way from darkest Peru (with the blessing of his Aunt Lucy) as a stowaway. This adorable, homeless bear is adopted by the Brown family. Judy and Jonathan are the Brown children; Mrs Bird is the housekeeper. Adventures and misadventures are had: all the time, everywhere he goes. I would say he’s less mischievous than Curious George.

My thoughts: This one was first published in 1958. It easily could have been a part of my mom’s childhood—and its sequels. Mom recently rediscovered this first book at the library. She said I HAD to read it because it’s awesome. She regretted never reading it aloud to us when we were kids. It is a great book. Perhaps not quite as quotable as Pooh, but still quotable. I will definitely be recommending this one.

“It wasn’t so much that he didn’t like baths; he really didn’t mind being covered with jam and cream. It seemed a pity to wash it all off quite so soon.” (27)

“After a few seconds he decided quite definitely that he preferred riding on an escalator. They were nice and smooth. But lifts! To start with, it was full of people carrying parcels and all so busy they had not time to notice a small bear—one woman even rested her shopping bag on his head and seemed quite surprised when Paddington pushed it off. Then suddenly half of him seemed to fall away while the other half stayed where it was. Just as he had got used to that feeling the second half of him caught up again and even overtook the first half before the doors opened. It did that four times on the way down and Paddington was glad when the man in charge said it was the ground floor and Mrs Brown led him out.” (67-8)

 

 

© 2024 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

136. The McNifficents

The McNifficents. Amy Makechnie. 2023. 320 pages. [Source: Library] [MG Fiction; Animal Fantasy]

First sentence: IN A LARGE PINK FARMHOUSE at 238 Marigold Lane lives a most unusual nanny: Lord Tennyson, a short, middle-aged gentleman with white whiskers and a royal pedigree. If he could speak, it would be with dignity and a touch of an English accent. If he wore clothing, he imagines he’d wear a suit of gray silk and a striped bow tie. But he does neither because Lord Tennyson is a dog, a miniature schnauzer to be exact, who wears only a blue-and-green collar that has teeth marks in it from when Sweetums was going through a particularly bad biting phase.
Despite his distinguished appearance and pedigree, he was not spending his morning caring for a dignitary’s son or the daughter of the president. Rather, his duty was herding the unruly McNiff children from the old pink farmhouse into the old red farm truck for the first swim of summer vacation. There were six of them: two boys and four girls. As you can imagine, getting all of them to and from the lake was not an easy task.

My thoughts (preview): I fell in love with the book cover. I did. It looked like it would be an awesome book that I would just click with from the start. The premise also sounds awesome: a DOG as a nanny; six naughty children having adventures/misadventures for hundreds of pages. I was disappointed. There is a good possibility it is all on me. I think the timing was off. I tried so many times to read this one and get hooked, get invested. I kept waiting for it to come naturally. For me to be able to read smoothly, naturally, to fall in love with the characters and story. Never happened....for me.

Premise/plot: A SENIOR miniature Schnauzer is a "nanny" for six horribly, naughty children. The McNiffs need Lord Tennyson (the dog) to help teach them how to be loving, caring, decent human beings. They need a lot of help because they are so not there yet. The children couldn't get along if their lives depended on it. There is fussing, fighting, arguing, grudges, revenge, sneakiness. The parents are mostly absent. The dog is the narrator.

My thoughts (conclusion): I really HATED the melodrama of the next-to-last chapter. I realize that he is a senior dog. I realize that dogs die. But to have this melodramatic death scene (turns out to be near-death not actual death), was just CRUEL. I think this nearly losing Lord Tennyson is the climax of their behavior. This is the first glimpse of hope that the kids can unite for something--or someone. But still. 

I *wanted* more than just naughty children. Personally. I do think it was just bad timing on my part. Maybe if I'd read it a few months from now or a year or two from now, it would be the right time and place for me to love this one.

 

 

© 2023 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews