The Christmas Carrolls by Mel Taylor-Bessent – Book Review
The Christmas Carrolls by Mel Taylor-Bessent – Book Review
The Christmas Carrolls
Author – Mel Taylor-Bessent
Illustrator – Selom Sunu
Publisher – Farshore
Pages – 336
Released – 14th October 2021
ISBN-13 – 978-0755503629
Format – ebook, paperback, audio
Rating – 5 Stars
I received a free copy of this book.
This post contains affiliate links.
Synopsis
Funny festive middle grade about the world’s most Christmassy family from the founder of Authorfy, perfect for 8+ readers and fans of Matt Haig, Ben Miller, Sibeal Pounder’s Tinsel, and the Nativity! films
Wish it could be Christmas every day? Well, for nine-year-old Holly Carroll and her family, it is! Living her merriest life in a house with year-round fairy lights and Christmas trees, a carol-singing toilet and a diva donkey who thinks he’s a reindeer, home-schooled Holly tries to spread cheer wherever she goes.
But when she goes to a new school with a singing Santa backpack and first day Christmas cards (during a heatwave in September!), she realises not everyone shares her enthusiasm for spreading cheer. In fact, when the neighbours try to remove the Carrolls from the street and Holly discovers a group of children that may not get a Christmas at all, her snowglobe world begins to crack. Is the world’s most Christmassy girl about to lose her Christmas spirit?
The Christmas Carrolls is a heartwarming, hilarious and inclusive tale about the power of spreading cheer, the magic of friendship and what really matters at this most wonderful time of the year.
Review by Stacey
If you are looking for a fun, exciting Christmas book for your middle-grader, then look no further. The Christmas Carrolls is an absolute genius of a book and the first in a series too.
Meet nine-year-old Holly Carroll, her baby sister Ivy, and their parents, Snow and Nick. Together they are a family who is festive all year round. They love Christmas. They have fake snow, a wrapping room, Christmas food every day, and Holly even has a ho-ho-hoing backpack. They are the most Christmassy family you will ever meet.
Join Holly as she learns a few life lessons from her new classmates and they learn a lot from her. In this tender and endearing book watch how being festive can help put a smile on even the most cynical of people’s faces and take note as Holly shows you exactly what being a friend is all about.
The Christmas Carrolls was a real joy to read. It made me feel uplifted the whole way through. It was joyous to read about characters who were nearly always happy and trying to share their cheer, which in turn put a smile on my face. I now can’t wait to join the family again and see what book two has installed for us.
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Founder of the hugely successful Authorfy and Little Star Writing, Mel Taylor-Bessent has made her career connecting readers to their favourite authors and encouraging children to write for pleasure. After gaining a Creative Writing degree, Mel launched her first business at the age of 22 and ran creative writing workshops for thousands of children aged 6-12. As a result, she also arranged hundreds of author events and witnessed first-hand the positive impact these interactions had on her students.
In 2017, she decided to replicate this via online ‘Author Masterclasses’ on a website she created called Authorfy.com. Since then, Authorfy has gone on to win numerous awards, partner with the likes of World Book Day and BookTrust, and is used in classrooms all over the world. Now Mel is bringing her own writing to readers with The Christmas Carrolls, her debut fiction series.
