Tinsel: The Girls Who Invented Christmas

I have just finished reading this with my daughter. What a wonderful book this is! We have thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.

The name’s Claus, Ms Claus, and she’s going to shake (not stir) your beliefs about Christmas. It was two girls, Blanche Claus and her friend Rinki, who invented the global one-night present distribution system. When we meet Blanche, she’s an orphan living under a bridge, and she’s not that into Christmas. It takes the enthusiasm of another waif, Rinki, bedecked in cast-off fripperies, to inspire Blanche's dreams of a Yuletide mission to give a present to each child all over the world on Christmas Eve. Things don’t go straightforward (as if they would!), but the girls remain loyal friends.This story wafted through me the warm orange and cinnamon glow of Christmas. It was as peppy as a peppermint stick in a mug of hot chocolate, as thrilling as an aerial sleigh ride and as gaudy as a bauble. Sibéal Pounder (Bad Mermaids) crafts a delicious Christmas tale and kicks the patriarchy into touch in this small book.In her retelling, an orphan named Blanche and her waiflike friend Rinki invent tinsel and Christmas in the spirit of human kindness and generosity. Santa gets a nod as a loveable mince pie baking supporter. Blanche and Santa get shipwrecked and wind up in a frozen northern area called Carolburg full of elves named Carol. Soon Blanche’s plan for worldwide present delivery starts to take form but not without some serious villainy at the dastardly hands of fake news king Krampus.The setting is Victorian London which will work well with middle grade readers who will be learning about Victorian times. There is a sneaky cameo of Queen Victoria herself and the author brings the streets of London to life, warts and all, using all the senses for world-building. There’s a cheeky fashion designer to mentor Rinki in her budding aspirations that will be shared by many readers. There are some things that don’t quite fit (Velcro) but adds to the magical can-do feel. Objects create a framework that hold the story together – chimneys, horses, Boudicca, baubles, cooking – and Sibéal should get an award for best use of a Brussel Sprout! There are tense and sad moments to offset the saccharine boppiness and naïveté, creating a well-rounded tale that will seize imaginations at bedtime, Yuletide, and beyond. The author adds in some historical detail for the factmonster and also a sensible warning about the harmful effects of tinsel on planet Earth.If you liked the film Frozen, and have wished for more uplifting sisterhood stories, this will fill the bill. I enjoyed the book. In fact, I reread it post-Christmas and it has made me so jolly that I’m in my Christmas jumper and longing for my own mince pie picnic.Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC.

Oh my goodness what a truly wonderful story of new friendships and courageous girls bringing joy to the world in a time when it was dominated by men and boys.So many wonderful characters to get to know and love if I had to pick just one it would be Eggnog watch out for him he's truly special and gives the longest hugs.There are bad scary characters too that you will simply love to hate so you have been warned. I bought a kindle version of this to snuggle up warm and read on the nights leading to Christmas. But I love it so much I treated myself to an early gift of a hardback copy. It will sit proudly on my Christmas Shelf of favourites with books I re~read every year at this magical time.Merry Christmas and Happy Reading 🌹📖

Tinsel is a festive delight for the soul.Christmas is full of traditions and stories and Tinsel is the perfect addition to any Wintertime read and I'm sure we'd all love to attend a Mince Pie picnic!The magic of this book sparkles instantly. The story follows Blanche Claus, an orphan. Living on the streets of London is a sad, lonely and desolute place. Blanche is counting down Christmas Day, a day that doesn't bring her warmth and cheer when an old lady presents her with a magical bauble and before you can say 'mince pie picnics' the adventure begins. Blanche meets the most extraordinary characters as she embarks on her mission to make Christmas a time for all: a horse that loves to eat Christmas pudding, the Carols - elves with personalities of their own, a fir tree called Eggnog and Rinki, the inventor of Mince Pie picnics.This is a glorious tale of friendship and how determination can make the most wonderful things happen.The imagination behind this festive tale is ingenious.This will definitely be the novel to start the Christmas countdown in my classroom.Now off to find a magical Christmas bauble.Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Children's Books for the eARC.

I have read a fair few Christmas stories in my time and most times they are predictable after the first few chapters or similar to other books and although festive... they can be just a tad repetitive. With this book however, I am almost left speechless as to how to describe this story. I am completely in love with this book, I was so engrossed and transported there into the story that I couldn't put it down and managed to read it in one evening. There are so many emotions here and this is such a unique story, the whole book from start to finish is so full of magic and adventure, the characters are beautiful (except for one particular one who deserves to be buried in coal, and then buried some more just to be sure) and towards the ending, oh my goodness... I very nearly felt like shouting at the book until i decided to read on and learned that even more magic was there. This is a very beautiful new story to create memories with over Christmas and is a fantastic present idea or stocking filler.

Although this is aimed at middle-grade, I still adored it as an adult. It is full of magic and wonder and I know that my younger self would have been enamoured with this story! It is a wonderful reminder to young girls that they are capable of achieving anything. Blanche’s dialogue is surprisingly sassy and funny – I loved her as a character. There is so much imagination packed into this story, and I can imagine it would make an incredible movie! Eggnog the tree is one of the most adorable characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading and I would happily read a whole story just on him!