Lily and The Christmas Wish is a gorgeous novel, from Keris Stanton. Perfect for newly independent chapter book readers, it is full of Christmas charm and adventure.
Lily’s hometown has decided to celebrate both Christmas and the lovely inhabitants of Pinewood by creating a tree full of wishes. The town’s lone, but majestic, pine tree is soon filled with little brown labels bearing the secret wishes of each of its inhabitants. What a fabulous idea – although Lily has her doubts. What’s the point if the wishes can’t come true?!
A strange, sudden storm brings a scary flash of lightening which splits the tree in 2, and scatters everyone’s little brown labels across the town. The next morning strange things start to emerge – not least the fact that Lily’s dog Bug can talk. The wishes have come true, the only problem is they’ve connected to the wrong people. Mayhem! Lily, her brother and Bug need to sort out the wishes before Christmas Eve – can they do it?
Keris Stanton weaves a fast moving, intriguing plot taking Christmas as her central theme. Gently woven in to Lily’s adventure are her family’s own problems – mum and dad arguing, then separating. A Grandad who is lonely since his wife died. Stanton treats these with a delicate, sympathetic touch adding a realistic element to a story involving wonderful snippets of fantasy. The characters are beautifully drawn, not least Lily’s wonderfully sarcastic talking dog, who was definitely a favourite!
Lily and The Christmas Wish will suit those who are now confident reading chapter books independently. The slightly shorter chapters makes it a good Christmas bedtime read for younger listeners too.
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