Fans of A Boy Called Christmas will rejoice at this whimsical story of the first child to ever be gifted a Christmas present! A perfect read-aloud this holiday season.

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. . . .

"Matt Haig has an empathy for the human condition, the light and the dark of it, and he uses the full palette to build his excellent stories." --Neil Gaiman, Newbery-winning author of The Graveyard Book

MATT HAIG is an internationally bestselling author whose novels for children and adults have been translated into twenty-six languages. His children’s books have won the Smarties Gold Award, the Alex Award, and the Blue Peter Book Award, and been nominated several times for the Carnegie Medal and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. His most recent book, the bestselling A Boy Called Christmas, was praised by Stephen Fry as “the most evergreen, immortal Christmas story to be published for decades.” He lives in Brighton, on the south coast of England, with his wife and two children. Visit him at matthaig.com and follow him at @matthaig1.
 
CHRIS MOULD began studying art at the age of sixteen and has gone on to become an acclaimed illustrator of children’s books, including Matt Haig’s A Boy Called Christmas. He lives with his wife and two children in Yorkshire. Visit him at chrismould.blogspot.com and follow him at @chrismouldink.