The Puffin Book of Christmas Stories

by Wendy Cooling

Christmas is coming! A delightful collection of stories by some of the finest writers for children.
The Puffin Book of Christmas Stories is essential Christmas-time reading including classic and contemporary stories, from traditional to real life, humour and most importantly, the magic of Christmas. Writers range from Charles Dickens to Gillian Cross, Trish Cooke, Malorie Blackman and Jacqueline Wilson.

Genres: Christmas, Short Stories, Fiction, Childrens

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

Wendy Cooling, a former teacher and Head of the Children's Book Foundation (now Book Trust), works as a freelance book consultant, reviewer and editor. She recently put together the successful millennium collection, CENTURIES OF STORIES. Wendy lives in Hertfordshire. (less)

Reviews

[Pragya · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[noah · Rating 2 out of 5]

why was one of the stories racist …?

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few stories were okay to get into but the others weren’t for me, so I dnf it.

[Martin Hale · Rating 3 out of 5]

If nothing else, it's worth reading for "Not Just for Christmas" by Rob Childs. An excellent Christmas short story.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has a lot of little pieces of many famous Christmas stories. There are a few in their entirety, but for the most part, there are just 'teasers'. For example, there's a short section from A Christmas Carol. Some of the stories really make no sense...I hate to admit it, but I wasn't sure why they were included in a book about Christmas. However, for the most part, it was a great little collection! The kids enjoyed it, and we were able to read one short story each night for a few weeks and really get ourselves into the spirit! :) Some of the stories brought tears to my eyes (one where a family adopted a dog was my favorite) and some brought that wondering twinkle into the eyes of my kids (like the one where a boy finds a Christmas shop and uses all his money to buy magic crackers to make his parents stop fighting...but then when he goes back, the shop is *gone*--was it really Santa??) Well worth the read!

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book full of Christmas stories from the old classics like Marley's ghost from Dicken's A Christmas carol to old foreign folk tales and legends to more modern stories with up to date festive themes.
A great book for reading aloud to children chapter by chapter.
All the stories have a moral to them and are filled with Christmas fun and messages.
A must read for adults or children for cold winter days.

[Jennifer (bookshelfwhisper) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little book of Christmas stories is a nice collection that does what it is supposed to do - it gets you into a festive mood.
I liked most of the stories included here and I do believe the length is just right.
It's a slim book, so reading through it in a day is definitely manageable. However, it's also a good book to read story per story.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was OK. Lots of little stories to make up one book. Some of them ended much too abruptly for me as if there was an end still to be written.

OK for a quick and easy Christmas read.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely stories - some really magical. They really capture the true meaning of Christmas as well as look at some social issues that raise their head at this time of year. i'm enjoying reading these.