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| Categories | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Author | Matt Haig |
| Publisher | Yearling; Illustrated edition (October 16, 2018) |
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 320 pages |
| Item Weight | 14.4 ounces |
| Dimensions |
5.19 x 0.73 x 7.56 inches |
I. Book introduction
“The Girl Who Saved Christmas” is a heartwarming and enchanting book written by Matt Haig. It is a delightful sequel to his previous work, “A Boy Called Christmas,” and continues the breathtaking adventures of Father Christmas and his courageous young apprentice, Amelia Wishart.
Amelia Wishart was the first child ever to receive a Christmas present. It was her Christmas spirit that gave Santa the extra boost of magic he needed to make his first trip around the world. But now Amelia is in trouble.
When her mother falls ill, she is sent to the workhouse to toil under cruel Mr. Creeper. For a whole year, Amelia scrubs the floors and eats watery gruel, without a whiff of kindness to keep her going. It’s not long before her hope begins to drain away.
Meanwhile, up at the North Pole, magic levels dip dangerously low as Christmas approaches, and Santa knows that something is gravely wrong. With the help of his trusty reindeer, a curious cat, and Charles Dickens, he sets out to find Amelia, the only girl who might be able to save Christmas. But first Amelia must learn to believe again. . . .
Editorial Reviews
- “With a little bit of naughty and a lot of nice, this Christmastime yarn is a veritable sugarplum.” —Kirkus Reviews
- “The Girl Who Saved Christmas will melt your Grinch-frozen heart” —Simon Mayo, BBC Radio
- “A plucky adventure tale in which Haig reminds us of and reworks the meaning of Christmas, pinning it onto a message of hope … Heartwarming.” —The Herald
- “Award-winning British author Matt Haig (To Be a Cat) writes with warmth, wit and irreverence.” —Shelf Awareness
- “Matt Haig puts the Happy back into Christmas.” —Jeanette Winterson
- “A lovely, warm, enveloping seasonal read.” —The Guardian
About the Author (Matt Haig)
Matt Haig is an author for children and adults. His memoir Reasons to Stay Alive was a number one bestseller, staying in the British top ten for 46 weeks. His children’s book A Boy Called Christmas was a runaway hit and is translated in over 40 languages. It is being made into a film starring Maggie Smith, Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent and The Guardian called it an ‘instant classic’. His novels for adults include the award-winning How To Stop Time, The Radleys, The Humans and the number one bestseller The Midnight Library.
Matt Haig was born on 3 July 1975 in Sheffield. He grew up in the Nottinghamshire town of Newark and later went on to study English and History at the University of Hull.
As of 2015, Haig is married to Andrea Semple, and they live in Brighton, Sussex, with their two children and a dog. The children were homeschooled.
Haig identifies as an atheist. He has said that books are his one true faith, and the library is his church.
Some of Haig’s work — especially part of the non-fiction books — is inspired by the mental breakdown he suffered from when he was 24-years-old. He still occasionally suffers from anxiety. He has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism.
II. Reviewer: The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig
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1. PAROMJIT reviews The Girl Who Saved Christmas
A captivating and spellbinding historical novel for children set in the Victorian era featuring an appearance by Queen Victoria herself. A young chimney sweep, Amelia writes to Father Christmas asking primarily for help for her seriously ill mother. She is full of hope that her wishes will come true, but she is the only one. However, in Elfhelm, trouble is brewing with unhappy elves and trolls wrecking the North Pole with the intention of getting Christmas cancelled. Father Christmas is tested to the limit in his efforts to get matters under control. Amelia’s world collapses when her mother dies and she finds herself at the worst workhouse in London. It is run by the nightmarish Mr Creeper who makes Amelia give up her cat, her beloved Mr Soot to Charles Dickens. A griefstricken Amelia facing misery and cruelty understandably loses her way and her hope for a while. Father Christmas needs her hope to ignite the magic so that Christmas can take place, and comes to find her as her spirits revive in time to save Chrismas for the world. This magical tale by Matt Haig makes for perfect material to read to children in the festive season. It is beautifully illustrated by Chris Mould throughout. Many thanks to Jamie Norman at Canongate for an ARC.
2. CHERI reviews The Girl Who Saved Christmas
Slightly less than one year ago, I read Matt Haig’s “A Boy Called Christmas” and fell in love with the story he had created. This year I’d hoped to finally get a copy of his “The Girl Who Saved Christmas” to read, I’d been so enchanted by his first Christmas novel.
”Do you know how magic works?
“The kind of magic that gets reindeer to fly in the sky? The kind that helps Father Christmas travel around the world in a single night? The kind that can stop time and make dreams come true?
“Hope.
“That’s how.
“Without hope, there would be no magic.
“It isn’t Father Christmas or Blitzen or any of the other reindeer that make magic happen on the night before Christmas.
“It’s every child who wants and wishes for it to happen. It no one wished for magic to happen, there would be no magic. And because we know Father Christmas comes every year, we know now that magic—at least some kind of magic—is real.”
But, this wasn’t always so, and there were years where no stockings were hung, before hope was in the air, or in the hearts and minds of children.
Victorian England features heavily in this story, you’ll see Queen Victoria in these pages, as well as Charles Dickens, a cat named Captain Soot, and a girl named Amelia Wishart, who was the one who saved Christmas, but almost stopped believing in the dream of magic.
She was the first child to believe, to hope for that magic of that first Christmas, and it was her hope that made that first Christmas possible.
Sadly, she’s fallen on hard times – the kind of hard times that only could happen in earlier times, a time like the Victorian era, the era that Dickens wrote about in her favourite book of his, Oliver Twist.
I loved this, from the flying pixies, the truth fairy, elves and the trolls, to the occasional nod to Dickens, the occasional use of Victorian era words rarely used, such as ‘skilamalink.’ I even loved the font that was used for this, and – of course – the marvelous illustrations, courtesy of Chris Mould, which are delightful.
I loved that this book is truly meant to be read to children, but has enough charm for adults reading this to remember the wonder of the holiday season as though they are seeing it once again through their own eyes as a child.
Hope is such an important thing to have, especially for children, to hold onto. I loved this message most of all, for without hope, there is no faith in anything – religious or otherwise – it is the belief in what could be. It is necessary in order to achieve anything, and everything, in life.
3. CAROLYN MARIE reviews The Girl Who Saved Christmas
This book is such a delight!! 💕🎄🎅🏻🌟
Being set partly in Victorian London, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that this book felt like it was meant for classics lovers!
There is a wonderful “cameo” from a very popular Victorian author (who’s name rhymes with Sharles Pickens 😉📖💕), and another from a person who just happens to live in Buckingham Palace (who’s name rhymes with Nictoria 😉)!
Matt Haig is so very clever with reinventing a story for Father Christmas and holiday traditions as a whole! This book made me laugh out loud and had me not wanting to put it down!!
Like I said with the first book in the series, “This book is as sweet as a Christmas sugar cookie!!”
I can’t wait to make these books a holiday reading tradition!! 💕🎄🎅🏻
4. ANJA reviews The Girl Who Saved Christmas
Ich liiiiiiiebe einfach diese Reihe von Matt Haig. Diesmal begleiten wir Nicolas, den Weihnachtsmann, auf der Suche nach seiner ersten Hoffnungsträgerin Amelia, denn Dank ihr, gibt es den Weihnachtszauber überhaupt, weil sie trotz ihrer ärmlichen Verhältnisse, ganz fest an ihn glaubt….oder geglaubt hat, denn irgendwas ist passiert, denn das Glücks und Hoffnungsbarometer ist ziemlich gesunken. Eine fantastische, dramatische und lustige Reise beginnt und ich hab sie wieder in vollen Zügen genossen. Jetzt brauche ich dringend Kinder, denen ich diese tolle Geschichte vorlesen kann. 😂😂😂😂 Perfektes Buch für Kids ab 6Jahren und älter.😉
5. JENNIFER C reviews The Girl Who Saved Christmas
Another wonderful Christmas story from Haig
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.
6. NICOLE HADLEY reviews The Girl Who Saved Christmas
Haig is a very charming story that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike
The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig is a very charming story that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. It is the story of Amelia Wishart, who is the first child ever to receive a gift from Father Christmas. She never loses hope throughout the misery she encounters in her very young life and however much she would like to stop believing in magic and goodness, she never fully does. Her hope made that first visit possible, and, just a couple of years later, her hope might just save Christmas itself.
The story takes place in two locations that couldn’t be more different: Elfhelm, where it is clean and only ever gets as cold as you want it to be, and in 1841 London, where it is dirty, cold and unfriendly place to orphans.
The characters in the story are quite fun. Amelia and Father Christmas both have strong personalities with a firm determination to get things done. Mr. Creeper is just as his name predicts, he is creepy and not a nice man at all. The guest appearances of a ruling head of state and a famous author are perfect. One passage was hilarious and it took me several minutes to sop laughing before I could continue reading. I was amused.
I recommend this book for read-a-loud’s to children and for middle grade readers.
I received this book from NetGalley via Random House Children’s Knopf Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review.
7. GORELENORE reviews The Girl Who Saved Christmas
Christmas – it was a magical book and a wonderful way to start the holiday season
Last year for the HoHoHo Readathon I had the pleasure of picking up Matt Haig’s A Boy Called Christmas – it was a magical book and a wonderful way to start the holiday season. This follow up was just as magical and inspiring this holiday season. If you have not read A Boy Called Christmas, I highly recommend doing so before you read this book. The Girl Who Saved Christmas has a lot of references and characters from the first book.
In this new book you get multiple points of view, the girl – Amelia and then Santa and some of the elves as well. Amelia is the first person to receive a Christmas present ever and her hope is so strong that it helps Santa journey to deliver the presents all over the world. The hope strengthens the magic that he needs. This year though, Amelia has lost her hope in the magic of Christmas and Santa and Santa has to do something about it.
Like the last in the series, this book was so magical and full of love and the merry spirit of the holidays – I loved everything about it. Amelia was a sad but real character and Santa is his jolly self even in times of trouble, it was both realistic and uplifting. I really like the world that Haig has built for the holiday cheer and really liked the addition of Amelia into the story. The ending lit up my day and if you are looking for a sweet holiday read, I highly recommend these books.
8. DANDELION IN THE WIND reviews The Girl Who Saved Christmas
Great holiday read!
Last year around this time, I read Matt Haig’s, ‘A Boy Called Christmas’ and loved it! No doubt I had to get my hands on this one as well as the one after this.
I loved the story as well as the illustrations and I must say how I love the cover art on all 3 of Matt Haig’s Christmas books.
Amelia was the first that gave Father Christmas the extra boost of magic he needed to travel around the world for the first time. But when Amelia lands in trouble, her hope is diminishing as well as the magic at the North Pole.
When the magic levels drop dangerously low at the North Pole, Father Christmas sets out to find Amelia in hopes to save Christmas.
During his search in finding Amelia, he meets Charles Dickens, yes theeee Charles Dickens, who happens to be taking care of Amelia’s cat, Captain Soot.
But can Father Christmas find Amelia in time to save Christmas? And will Amelia lose hope?
I’m not giving it away, you’ll just have to read and find out. 😉
I loved getting a better look into Elfhelm as well as enjoyed the Truth Pixie. Will definitely get the Truth Pixie book as soon as I can.
I enjoyed following Amelia’s story as she goes through troubled times and tries to keep her hopes up. I also love that she stands up for herself. I love Captain Soot too.
I enjoyed the pixies and the trolls as well.
I definitely recommend this book!
9. DARLA reviews The Girl Who Saved Christmas
Can Amelia feel the magic of that first Christmas? One year later her life could not be worse. Where is Father Christmas? It is a dire situation. Her hope could power the sleigh to go around the world, but how can Amelia have hope now? Filled with crazy references to elf time, reindeer, drimwickery, and troll treachery; this is the story you need to hear after reading A Boy Called Christmas. I really loved the part famous historical figures like Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens play in this second story. And I especially love Captain Soot!
10. JESSICA reviews The Girl Who Saved Christmas
Utterly charming! Of course, you know me: any book that includes Charles Dickens as a character rises high in my esteem at once! And especially books about Christmas! About hope! And magic! And eating gingerbread!
I read the first book several years ago, I liked it a lot, but it was a bound manuscript and didn’t have the art, and now I need to get a finished copy of that to read to the kids next year! They all loved this, and the art is darling!
III. The Girl Who Saved Christmas Quotes by Matt Haig
The best book quotes from The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig
“No, she felt homesick, not for a place, but for a time. Maybe it wasn’t homesickness at all. Maybe it was timesickness. She just missed those days when she was younger – seven, six, five, four years old – when she didn’t know so much about the world. She missed, most of all, her mother.”
“Do you know how magic works?
The kind of magic that gets reindeer to fly in the sky? The kind that helps Father Christmas travel around the world in a single night? The kind that can stop time and make dreams come true?
Hope.
That’s how.
Without hope, there would be no magic.”“Life is like a chimney – you sometimes have to get through the dark before you see the light.”
“Because words are a magic too, and they can contain everything.”
“Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.”
“Just because you’re small doesn’t mean you can’t do great things.”
“You know, you love someone and they love you back, and then they’re gone. Where does that love go?”
Father Christmas thought about this….
“The love of a person never disappears,” he said softly. “Even if they might. We have memories, you see, Amelia. Love never dies. We love someone and they love us back, and that love is stored, and it protects us. It is bigger than life, and it doesn’t end with with life. It stays inside us. They stay inside us. Inside our hearts.”“Happy Christmas!’ the man said.
‘Yes’, Charles Dickens said, who couldn’t bring himself to say ‘Happy Christmas’ back.
‘Isn’t it the best of times?’ the man went on.
The cat gave a gentle miaow of disagreement in his arms as Charles Dickens nodded. ‘Yes. And the worst.”“Hope is the strongest weapon against darkness.”
“Sometimes the most powerful magic lies within the most ordinary things.”
“Magic can be found everywhere, if you know how to look for it. … And where there is magic, there was hope.”
“Sad things happen in life. They just do. But so do happy things.”
“You can always tell if someone is kind because kindness is the sparkle inside their eyes.”
“You see, sometimes, a single child believing in magic – if they believe enough – is enough to restore order to the universe.”
“We are all capable of making a difference, no matter where we come from.”
“The true spirit of Christmas is found in acts of kindness and generosity.”
“The love of a person never disappears,’ he said softly. ‘Even if they might. We have memories, you see, Amelia. Love never dies. We love someone and they love us back and that love is stored and it protects us. It is bigger than life and it doesn’t end with life. It stays inside us. They stay inside us. inside our hearts.”
“Everything looked expensive and calm, as if calm was something you needed money to pay for.”
“Santa Claus is real. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“In every act of giving, we receive something greater in return.”
“Love is the greatest force in the universe. It can overcome any obstacle.”
Excerpted from The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig
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