A Wonderful, magical story
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This book really cannot be recommended highly enough !
I bought it about 5 years ago when my daughter would have been 6 years old and intially, my wife and I would read a chapter each night in the lead up to Christmas. As each chapter represents a day in December and is only half-a-dozen pages long, it's the ideal bedtime story for kids (and adults, I guess!).
Now my daughter is old enough to read it for herself and is, in fact, an avid reader. However, it is such a wonderfully written book and the reading of it has become such a pre-Christmas ritual in our house, that we all still take part (my daughter loves to shout "To Bethlehem!, To Bethlehem"! at the appropriate moment!).
Interestingly, she recently reviewed it as part of a school project and said that she finds it impossible to read two chapters in one sitting. Somehow it just doesn't seem right !
I have no particular interest in religion and would probably count myself as an agnostic but this book somehow conveys the true meaning of Christmas in a way that I have never come across before.
If I could give it 10 stars, I would. Quite simply, if you have young children (or even if you don't), buy it !!
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interesting
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To be honest this wasn't my kind of book. I have read a couple of the author's other works and this was similar, interesting but inoffensive and at times overly nice. It seems to have been written for children, and if I was looking for a book to read with my kids in the run up to Christmas, this would be a good one, but it inevitably disappointed me a little. I'm not a great fan of religion, and the message of warmth and kindness got a little tiring for me after a while. Plenty of talk about Jesus and love but no mention of the millions slaughtered in Jesus's name over the centuries, of course, which would kind of kill the spirit of it. I was most interested in the historical aspect of it, the notes about ancient cities and myths such as the Pied Piper of Hamelin and the original Saint Nick.
Overall the format was good, with short, coffee-break sized chapters, though a little too much repetition. I was personally a little disappointed with the ending being so vague, but overall it was an interesting enough read, but I don't think I would read it again.
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Perfect for Advent
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Every year I buy my children Christmas books that we read throughout Advent. Two years ago I bought this book and we had a chapter each day in the run up to Christmas Day. The girls aged 7 and 9 at the time loved listening together and it provided us with a real cosy time at the end of each day. They looked forward to each chapter and to unravelling the mystery. I have since bought several copies for God daughters and nephews and nieces who have all enjoyed it as an alternative to an Advent Calendar. I am now stuck this year to find a book of similar appeal to keep us going through advent.
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A Magical Christmas Read
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"To Bethlehem! To Bethlehem!" A small toy lamb comes to life and runs away from the sound of cash registers in a large department store. I know how it feels! There are those who would try to sell us Christmas as just another product - glitzy, expensive, and festooned with designer labels - but ultimately, for those who buy into it, proving to be disposable and unsatisfying. Most Christians have come to know that the elusive 'magic' of Christmas cannot be found in a gift catalogue, but reveals itself only to those who will again follow the road to Bethlehem to welcome the Christ child. So travels young Elisabet Hansen, unwittingly at first as she runs down the escalator in hot pursuit of the lambkin, but with increasing excitement and wonder as she journeys back through time and across many lands to the birth of Christ. On her pilgrimage she is befriended by a motley group of shepherds, wise men, angels, kings and an entire flock of sheep! On the way she has many adventures, and learns much about the effect that Jesus has had upon the world in the centuries since his birth. We discover this remarkable story through the eyes of a small boy called Joachim who lives in Norway. Each morning he opens the door of a 'magic' advent calendar, given to him by a mysterious bookseller, and a tiny piece of paper falls out - another chapter of Elisabet's great journey. As Joachim does so, we too embark on another chapter of Jostein Gaarder's seamlessly constructed book. Thus, we are given the great gift of sharing the sense of anticipation that Joachim feels each day, and the almost unbearable excitement he experiences as Christmas draws near. We are also kept guessing by a clever sub-plot: Joachim discovers that there really was an Elisabet Hansen - a young girl who disappeared from Norway at Christmas in 1948. What became of her? And what of the mysterious John the flower seller who seems to know more than he is letting on? The word 'magic' is a cliché when connected with Christmas, but as I re-read The Christmas Mystery for the fourth time this year I marvelled again at how effectively Jostein Gaarder has distilled it and captured its essence in this extraordinary book. Many authors have tried to write books that will speak to both children and adults, but Gaarder is one of the few who has succeeded. So when you have shopped till you've dropped this Christmas I strongly recommend that you pick up this book and allow yourself to be transported with Elisabet and Joachim far from the bleeping of cash registers, to the awed and astonished silence of a stable in Bethlehem.
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The Christmas Mystery
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I read this book not long after reading Jostein Gaarder's smash hit 'Sophie's World', and whilst I found it enchanting, I cannot honestly say it matches up to his other novels.
It follows the story of a young boy who discovers an advent calendar with a difference while out shopping with his parents. This calendar, mysteriously placed in a book shop by a market florist,has a chapter of one girls extraordinary journey back through time to the birth of Christ in each door. This story immediatly captures the imaginations of both Joachim (the boy) and his parents, as they race each day to discover what the next door's chapter holds.
This plot is certainly original and Gaarder succeeds in telling two stories at once, although it can sometimes seem bare of description and a little repetitive. But, with all that said this book is still worth a read, particularly in the run up to Christmas, if only for the 'cosy Christmas feeling' you are guaranteed to get.
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