The Readers - #5 The Christmasaurus

Is anyone else feeling festive yet, I know I am! With Christmas officially beginning for many of you tomorrow, I’ve decided to bring the fifth instalment of ‘The Readers’ forward a month and provide you all with even more seasonal cheer in the lead up to the big day!

 

With this two month reading block falling over Christmas, and our shared love (or perhaps just my obsession) for anything related to Tom Fletcher, we all mutually decided on ‘The Christmasaurus’ as our next book club choice. Breaking away from children’s picture books, this is Tom’s debut novel, which is aimed at younger readers. I managed to pick up my copy for £7 in Tesco, with other supermarkets doing a similar deal, but you may have better luck in general book stores as newer titles are added to the charts.

 

The story begins with a brief prologue, detailing the demise of the dinosaurs. Not particularly Christmassy in itself, but necessary for explaining the fate of a very special dinosaur egg! We are then introduced to a young boy called William Trundle, and his Christmas obsessed father, Bob. We learn that William is confined to a wheelchair, and has grown up without a mother after she died in the accident which caused his paralysis... but more importantly, we learn about William’s enormous love of dinosaurs!

 

The rest of the novel then follows William in the run up to Christmas, and gives us a taste of the problems he faces, especially being the focus of the new school bully. He longs for his very own dinosaur as a gift this year, even though he knows it’s unlikely to happen… Meanwhile, up in the North Pole, Santa becomes the new owner of the last remaining dinosaur on planet Earth, which was found by elves during ‘toy mining’! Tom has completely reimagined the whole process at Santa’s workshop, injecting a new burst of Christmas magic into a very old tale. When this new baby dinosaur finds himself stuck on Santa’s sleigh for the Christmas Eve sleigh ride, and subsequently stranded in Williams’s neighbourhood, William is thrown into a fantastic Christmas adventure! There’s villains, a chase, a journey of discovery and a twist which most kids (but not mums and dads) will never see coming!

 

Now I know this story is not particularly aimed at my age range, but I didn’t find that to be a problem while reading it. I was completely drawn in to the world of William Trundle, so much so that I was almost crying when the bullying was at its peak! Tom deals with some difficult themes, but I think he manages to perfectly explain them in a way children can understand. Working closely with the charity ‘Whizz-Kidz’, he also ensured that William’s disability was discussed in an appropriate manner, without being seen as something which necessarily hinders him on a daily basis.

 

The Christmasaurus is such a wonderful addition to the usual Christmas tales and I would recommended it to both children and adults alike! I’m still hesitant to give it full marks, but if I look at it from a child’s perspective, I would definitely give it 5/5! Lesley has not managed to finish this one yet, but I’m sure the others would agree with my rating – Sarahjane is even hoping that the film rights have been acquired by someone!

If you’re looking for an extra stocking filler for the kids this year, the Christmasaurus is definitely a winner! I know I will be adding it to our list of future Christmas traditions for years to come!

 

Our next novel returns us to the ‘grown-up’ world with Lesley’s choice of ‘I Let You Go’ by Claire Mackintosh. Join us again in early March, when we should have hopefully finished the next one!
 

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