24 + 1 Christmas Tales: Butterfly Adventures in Santa's Secret City

by Alexander Ruth

24 + 1 Christmas Tales tell of the fabulous adventures of butterflies Martha, Darfo, Sonya and Johnny at Santa's Secret City. They are accompanied by their friends the three electric blue fireflies and the fearful phoenix. Whether it be helping to check wish lists, granting a white Christmas or manufacturing magical Christmas presents, the butterflies can be found everywhere: their mission is to make Christmas bigger, better and more perfect.

Genres: Christmas, Ebooks, Holiday, Fiction, Childrens, Fantasy, Short Stories

136 pages, Paperback

First published October 26, 2011

About the author

Alexander Ruth lives in a town surrounded by a lot of green (Meerbusch). He studied history, Anglistics and German philology at the University of Düsseldorf and works as a journalist and editor. In his science fiction and fantasy novels "Butterfly Stories" as well as in his various short stories, he combines reality with speculative fiction, medieval times, the modern age and the future – and transports the reader into unique magical worlds …

Reviews

[Courtney Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story and loved the advent daily unboxing stories experience- very fun for kids and good and cozy Christmas stories. Still a little confused about the word butterfly and if the author means something different than what I think of as butterflies 🦋?

[Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.

This review is unbiased and based upon a copy won through the Goodreads First Reads program.

[Anna Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways. My daughter liked the stories that we read for bedtime stories. I really recommend this book for children who love the magical time of the Christmas season.

[Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

First and foremost, I absolutely LOVED the packaging and even saved it. ;)

Lovely little book filled with wonderful stories that my children and myself all loved. It has a forever slot in our Christmas tradition now, and stays on the bookshelf year round for reading, because it's that good.

[Paula Ackley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Originally I was thrilled to win 24 +1 Christmas Tales: Butterfly Adventures in Santa's Secret City. I was hoping to read it to my grandson this coming Christmas (2019) when he will be 3 1/2. I decided to read it first and I just couldn't get into it. It took me 8 days to read a 136 page book. It was dull and boring and I couldn't see how it would hold a child's interest. There were words that a child would have trouble understanding and the wording itself was stilted. This may be due to the book's translation from the German. This book about Santa at the North Pole getting ready for Christmas did not flow. Each chapter seemed to have been just dropped into the book . There was no cohesiveness. I lost track of how many chapters started with "the snow fell softly on Santa's Secret City". A phoenix, blue fireflies, butterflies and St. Peter with a sweet tooth just didn't work for me. Maybe it will be more to your liking (and your child's) but I will not be reading it to my grandson in December.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Goodreads for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would recommend this book and it's short stories for children as bedtime stories and enjoy the magic of Christmas. It is definitely a little odd, and I had trouble understanding the purpose of the butterflies for Christmas, but I guess at this time of year, a little extra magic never hurt anyone.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am guilty of picking up books (and in this case, trying for a giveaway) without reading the description.

This is the kind of collection of super-short-stories that I might have read to my kids when they were little if we didn't have time for a chapter from a longer book. The tales all center around mischievous fairy/butterfly/phoenix helpers at the North Pole.

It is very sweet and bubbly and would be great for someone in that mindset.

[Kathy Church · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christmas Magic

I love all Christmas books. This one is adorable. The butterflies , along with the fireflies and the other creatures and elves make these stories magically.

[CMAC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute stories! A little twist on the world of North Pole and Santa Clause. I personally loved it. Getting me ready for the upcoming holiday season.

Read a chapter a night with your little one.

[Jenni Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute quick read

This is a fun tale about what it takes to make the magic of Christmas from the North Pole's perspective. Fast read and enjoyable!

[Sue :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun book.

This would be nice to read to your kids, grandkids. I read it to my cat lol. Going to keep it and reread next year.

[Candra Hodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute tales

Very short cute tales that span from December first all the way til December 25th. I have never read about there being Christmas butterflies before though.
I won this book thru a goodreads.com giveaway

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful book for anyone to read, even for Christians. Author has a wonderful style, poetic, cute and each story can be something to read with the family.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book last year during the holiday season. We just started it this year and have already started decorating so we started reading our Christmas books!

This one is so cute and my daughter loved it to add to the holiday magic! She loves that it had butterflies in Santa's Secret City. Made me think of an animated kids Christmas tale. We loved it!

Thank you to Goodreads for the free copy in return for my honest review!

[Kristi Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Santa spoke to the trees as though it was the most natural thing in the world.”

I received this book from Goodreads as part of their first reads program. I enjoyed reading these tales about Santa’s butterfly helpers and the days before Christmas. These are fairly short stories perfect for an Advent Calendar type event. Read one a day starting December 1st until Christmas day. It would also make a good short bedtime story.

I am a grandmother, and I enjoyed these stories. However, your grandchild or child would have to be someone that enjoys tales of make believe and fairy tales. It really isn’t for the Captain Underpants crowd or the readers of Poop. Kids and their books have changed a great deal. This is definitely an old-fashioned book.

Some people recommended it for early chapter book readers, but there are some big words in here that may be too challenging. You will have to be the judge. There are some complaints on the translation from German to English. It didn’t bother me too much.

I liked the stories and do recommend them for children who love the magical time of the Christmas season.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclosure: I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways. This review is impartial.

This is a fun collection of stories about a group of butterflies in Santa's Secret City who accomplish tasks and complete missions to help Santa and the children of the world. The story is arranged into 25 short chapters which makes it good for reading during the month of December (one for each day up to Christmas!). I would recommend this for middle-schoolers as an independent reading book or as a read-aloud book for primary school children.

One curious feature of the text is that none of the paragraphs are indented. Onamonapias are also used frequently! Looking through just a few pages I found: Ping, plop, lick!, splat, fizzzzz, WHIZZ!, CRACKKKK, hee, hee, hee, etc. I found they add to the fun of the story.

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a charming little book about the magic butterflies who help Santa Claus in the magical North Pole headquarters. Each little chapter is a story by itself and would be a great book for parents to read to their children at bedtime for a month or so before Christmas. The author is German and his command of the English language is good. There are a few unusual words and grammar usage that add to the charm of the book. I got this book free on the GoodReads giveaway feature of this web-site. I thoroughly enjoyed this children's book. Thank you Alexander Ruth for sending it and the bookmarks and postcards that came in the package with it.

[Cai · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book follows the adventures of the butterflies Darfo, Martha, Johnny and Sonya as they help Santa and the elves prepare for Christmas.

I loved how this book has a strong emphasis on the spirit of Christmas, something I find hugely lacking in today's society. I loved the reference of "the Festival of Love" as to me that is what Christmas is. The book was light, fluffy, funny and easy to read.

*I received this book through a Goodreads Giveaway.*

*I selected this for a Reading Challenge as a book with a number in the title.*

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an odd-ball assortment of Christmas stories involving Santa, Mrs. Santa, butterflies, fireflies and a phoenix. It is arranged in 24 chapters that would make nice little bedtime Advent stories leading up to Christmas. Some of the stories might be a bit too advanced for the very young child but I think most would enjoy the adventures and the excitement of the book. It certainly is a different take on the usual holiday readings.
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway for this honest review.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Goodreads Giveaway Win: it may be an issue with the translation but this book just did not make sense. The “stories” were more like vignettes, with no cohesion, no actual plot, no lesson learned or moral. It’s billed as a children’s book but I am not sure the author has ever met a child. There didn’t really seem to be anything that a child would enjoy and some of the scenes were disturbing. “In a flash, Rupert produced quite a collection of punishment tools - an electric shocker, hand cuffs, tear gas and a hammer….in case he had to punish someone really, really naughty.” WTF.

[Gretchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alexander Ruth tells the tales of Christmas as seen through the magic of butterflies. Butterfly Adventures in Santa's Secret City is a charming story for children of all ages who believe in the magical mystery of the Christmas season. All of creation is involved in making Christmas and Santa successful from butterflies to Christmas trees to chocolate and candy floss. Truly Christmas is a festival of love nnourished by cooperation. Enjoy!
24+1 Christmas Tales is a goodreads win.

[Mariah Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this in a goodreads giveaway and I hoped to read it in an advent type style. Unfortunately the stories didn’t grab my attention. I found the chapters to be too short to be able to make a well thought out story. Without being able to see all all the magic and what I imagined to be fun characters the story fell a little flat for me. I can imagine that fleshed out or shortened down even more to an illustrated book this would be really cute.

[D.T. Powell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not even sure I would have read this in first grade. Some of it sort of makes sense, but there isn't really a plot, which is a big "no" for me. Even in the first 30 pages, I ran across several places where the story doesn't make a lot of sense.

I feel like this should have been a picture book series. It would have made a lot more sense. I also thought the order of the first few chapters was jumbled. It would have been a lot more understandable if chapter 3 or 4 were the first chapter.

[Siddhaant Pahuja · Rating 4 out of 5]

after reading this i would like to say that the story is a nice fantasy but i would say that the starting was a little bit confusing ,where there is test kinda thing for the butterflies . I would like to mention about the translation errors there were many of these in the english edition .


thank you for the book
Siddhaant Pahuja

[Melissa T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book on Goodreads first reads, thank you!

My son loved these stories which we read at bedtime. I really recommend this book for children who love the magical time of the Christmas season.

My sons favorite story was the one that Santa got tickled with the feather when he was asleep. You need to read this book to find out what happens!

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book on Goodreads.
It is a fun Christmas read. Each chapter is a stand alone short story. I could picture each chapter as a children’s book. The illustrations would bring the stories to life.
I enjoyed that butterflies were working with Santa. That was a new take on life at the North Pole.

[Living Belowtheclouds · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book through first reads giceaway. It was delightful, my nephews loved it and it's a great book to have around the house on Christmas holidays. Kids are going to love it! Even I, as an adult enjoyed it.

[Russell Howen · Rating 4 out of 5]

IMAGINATION! That's what Alexander Ruth's "24+1 Christmas Tales" requires for the reader as well as the writer, who has plenty. Its an enjoyable book for all ages, especially for parents or grandparents to read to the pre-readers.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy the short stories in this book. I thought it would be stories for a younger age group, but id say this book still had a good amount of words, that you'd have to explain to younger children. Overall, the stories were good and to the point. Perfect for bedtime stories.