The Puffin Book of Christmas Stories

by Sara Corrin (Editor), Stephen Corrin (Editor), Jill Bennett (Illustrator)

An anthology of fourteen Christmas stories from many countries, chosen for older children. Includes selections by Thomas Hardy, Leon Garfield, O. Henry, and Charles Dickens.

Christmas with the Chrystals - Noel Streatfeild
The Story of Brother Johannick and his Silver Bell - retold by Elizabeth Clark
The Christmas Rose - retold by Stephen Corrin
The Real True Father Christmas - Roy Fuller
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens, abridged by Stephen Corrin
The Ghost of Christmas Present - Wendy Eyton
The Forbidden Child - Leon Garfield
The Christmas Cherries - Chrétien de Troyes, translated by John Hampden
The Day We Threw the Switch on Georgie Tozer - Brian Alderson
Christmas and Peter Moss - Mary Small
The Weathercock's Carol - Diana Ross
The Thieves who Couldn't Help Sneezing - Thomas Hardy
The Gift of the Magi - O. Henry
The Christmas Cuckoo - Frances Browne

Genres: Christmas, Short Stories, Fiction, Childrens

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Sara Corrin is a published author, editor, and a translator of children's books. Some of the published credits of Sara Corrin include Tales from Hans Andersen: Fourteen Classic Tales, Shocking Accident, A Shocking Accident, and Faber Book of Golden Fairytales.

Reviews

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 3 out of 5]

By far the best story (other than "A Christmas Carol", of course) was the Thomas Hardy one "The Thieves who Couldn't Help Sneezing". "The Weathercock's Carol" by Diana Ross was also good - it reminded me of Elizabeth Goudge's book "The Dean's Watch". And "The Christmas Cuckoo" by Frances Browne was a good one as well. All nicely complemented by the illustrations of Jill Bennett.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vast improvement on the The Oxford Book of Christmas Stories, but still a mixed bag.

I enjoyed Noel Streatfeild's "Christmas with the Chrystals" and Diana Ross' (not that Diana Ross!) "The Weathercock's Carol" the most, along with the folktales or folktale-style stories. I am pleased to have finally read "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry.

There are some rather bizarre selections here, particularly the stories by Roy Fuller and Brian Alderson - the latter has nothing to do with Christmas, other than a single mention.

I will hang on to this volume to reread the ones I enjoy, but I wish I could take the best stories of each collection and make a sort of "mix-tape" for myself.

[Val · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this anthology so much and yet I didn't. The stories chosen just aren't that great. You can't really go wrong with authors like Leon Garfield and Thomas Hardy, yet the stories included from them just aren't the best. Lovely introduction though and still rather sad to think that an anthology like this just wouldn't be published these days.

[Tamzin · Rating 2 out of 5]

My search to find a Christmas stories as meaningful as A Christmas Carol goes on to no avail....

[Eustacia Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read and re-read this every year when I was a child. I really enjoyed Christmas with the Chrystals by Noel Streatfield and thought the kitchen sounded like a brilliant place to be!

[Aniela Semeniuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun Christmas book

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the traditions growing up was that each Christmas, my mother would give me a Christmas-themed book (and each birthday, a stuffed koala). This would have been Christmas when I was 10 or so and I absolutely loved the collection of stories.