One Christmas Wish

by Katherine Rundell, Emily Sutton (Illustrator)

Overview

From beloved author Katherine Rundell comes a clever, funny, and poignant picture book about a lonely little boy who wishes not to be alone on Christmas.

A young boy’s Christmas Eve wish on a shooting star leads to an adventure with an ever-hungry rocking horse, an angel whose wings are molting, a robin who has forgotten how to sing, and a rusting tin drummer boy in Katherine Rundell’s classic Christmas story, with Emily Sutton’s gorgeous paintings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481491617
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	09/18/2018
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	116,982
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Katherine Rundell is the author of Rooftoppers, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms (a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner), The Wolf Wilder, The Explorer, The Good Thieves, and The Zebra’s Great Escape. She grew up in Zimbabwe, Brussels, and London, and is currently a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. She begins each day with a cartwheel and believes that reading is almost exactly the same as cartwheeling: it turns the world upside down and leaves you breathless. In her spare time, she enjoys walking on tightropes and trespassing on the rooftops of Oxford colleges.

Emily Sutton was born and raised in the depths of North Yorkshire, England, and graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2008. She is the illustrator of the Clara Button books by Amy de la Hay and The Tale of Castle Mice by Michael Bond.

Editorial Reviews

Rundell's lively, eloquent prose and Sutton's warm, delicate art make for an enchanting chapter-book read-aloud.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

09/24/2018
Left alone by his preoccupied parents on Christmas Eve, Theo discovers four worn ornaments at the bottom of the decoration box: a tin soldier, an angel, a rocking horse, and a robin. Then a shooting star blazes by. “I wish to be un-alone,” Theo says aloud. Instantly, the decorations come to life. The rocking horse eats everything in sight (“pine needles, electrical cables, and the bottoms of curtains”), the robin yearns to sing, the angel to fly, and the tin soldier to find his love. Rundell (The Explorer) spins her tale with British civility (“Sorry,” Theo apologizes as the Christmas ornaments lay waste to his piano teacher’s sitting room, “Sorry!”), and the group’s exchanges provide smiles (“I have a feeling you’re supposed to brush your hair if you’re hoping to fall in love,” the soldier worries). With delicately brushed lines, detailed ink-and-watercolor vignettes by Sutton (A First Book of the Sea) supply just the right snow-covered, holly-sprigged atmosphere for a series of magical transformations—and some very real love. Ages 5–9. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

2018-08-20

A little boy finds a box of old ornaments that come to life on a special Christmas Eve.

Theo's parents have left him alone with a distracted babysitter. Despondent, Theo makes a wish on a shooting star "to be un-alone." A rocking horse, a robin, a tin soldier, and an angel wake up to keep him company. Each has its own distinctive personality—the rocking horse eats everything in sight, the little robin has forgotten how to sing, the angel would love to have real feathers for her wings, and the soldier pines for his own true love. They head outside for an evening full of joyful adventures. Rundell's writing is delightful, but it's marred by several non sequiturs and discrepancies between text and art. Illustrations throughout clearly show Theo clad in striped pajamas. Yet the text says "Theo thought about his heart, beating hard under his four layers of sweaters." When Theo and his ornament friends find a princess doll in a toy store, the line "Theo lifted down her box" is followed by "Theo looked up at the doll," who's depicted in place on the upper shelf. But great care was given to the book's beautiful design. Spacious text wraps around illustrations; wide borders are sometimes filled with pictures, and the pages open up to perfectly placed, colorful double-page spreads. Theo, his family, and the humanoid animate toys all present white.

A heartwarming tale of the magic of Christmas, but adults will need to be ready to help children past the rough spots. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews