Book Review and Giveaway! #MGBookElves

I don't usually review my own work...and I'm not. But I'll review the other 6/7 of the book!

Seven stories, seven situations threatening the festivities. Will the holidays be a disaster?  Will families be left out in the cold? Will there be tears before bedtime, or will there be happy endings all round? The MG BookElves group brings you its first anthology of tales to enjoy during the holiday season:

* Reliable Clooney Dockins delivered his town's mail on time for thirty-two years, until that strange and impossible Christmas Eve when he woke up late. M.G.King (Fizz & Peppers at the Bottom of the World, Librarian on the Roof)

* Max the Tonkinese cat finds Santa Claus on the roof and is whisked away to retrieve a very special message from another time and place. Wendy Leighton-Porter (The Shadows from the Past series)

* Shirley Link is an amateur sleuth who lives in a town that could use all the sleuths it can get! What is it about Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts that makes it such a hotspot for dastardly deeds? Even on Christmas Day? Ben Zackheim (Shirley Link Detective Series, The Camelot Kids)

*Champ may be a rescue dog, but he’s the best person around to stop the dognappers and save heartbreak at Christmas. Fiona Ingram (The Secret of the Sacred Scarab, Champ: My Story of Survival)

* When the railroad gets snowed under, the two bit town of Skunk Corners has to play host to a load of mighty difficult strangers.  Can Big Al and the Ninja Librarian keep the season of goodwill from breaking into a riot? Rebecca M. Douglass (The Ninja Librarian, Halitor the Hero)

*Far away on the west coast of a western Scottish island, Dylan and Dougall face yuletide in Castle Haunn with no heat, light or food.  Can Dylan get the message through to the mainland for help, or is there something nasty waiting for him in the hills? Jemima Pett (The Princelings of the East series)

*It’s Christmas holiday and Lily is stuck in a remote mountain village. With school out for a month and no internet connection, at first she wonders how she will fill the time. In this sweet romance, Lily discovers there’s more to gift-giving than just the giving.  S. Smith (The Seed Savers series)

Each tale weaves its own seasonal magic.  Each magician has already warmed the hearts of thousands of young readers with their stories. Enjoy these frantic races to meet the Christmas deadline while you curl up in your favourite reading spot this winter.

Details: 40,000 words (approx); 157 pages (approx, ebook)/ 184 pages (paperback) ; grade 4 +; ages 8 to 108.

Title: BookElves Anthology, Vol. 1
Authors: Jemima Pett, Rebecca M. Douglass, Fiona Ingram, M.G. King, Wendy Leighton-Porter, S. Smith, Ben Zackhiem
Publisher: Princelings Publications, 2014, 184 pages.
Source: I got to proof the book for our group!



My Review:

 There really is something in here for everyone. The stories are very different, but I enjoyed every one, and each had something to offer the reader: humor, inspiration, food for thought, and a faint whiff of candy canes and chocolate. Most of the stories are spin-offs or bonus tales from series, from my own Ninja Librarian to the guinea pigs that inhabit the world of the Princelings of the East to Max the Tonkinese cat and Shirley Link, kid-detective extraordinaire. I have read some of the series, and for others this was my first encounter, and all the stories read well as stand-alone stories, as well as tickling my desire to delve further into their worlds. It's nice bunch of stories to curl up with as the holidays approach!

Recommendation: 
It really is for kids from 8 to 108, though some stories skew more to the younger or older child, largely through variations in reading level. I recommend this for anyone, of any age, who just wants to spend a little time with some heartwarming holiday stories!

Like it? Buy at Amazon in paperback or Kindle, or enter the Goodreads Giveaway for a copy all your own! 

And while we're on the subject of great new books...