I read this book ages ago and loved it. It is a great story. I did order it for my library at the time.

I was given this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this second entry in the Christmas series by Matt Haig. Amelia Wishart is a little girl who has more hope than any other child, even though her mother is sick and she has to work as a chimney sweep. Even after her mother dies, and she is taken to the workhouse by Mr. creeper, she has enough hope to power Father Christmas' first Christmas.

However, after a troll attack, Father Christmas cannot complete his Christmas deliveries, and Amelia starts to lose hope. Will she regain her hope and save Christmas.

A delightful mix of Artemis Fowl, Leminy Snicket, and Charles Dickens (who makes an appearance), this book will quickly become a holiday favorite!

I and my children absolutely loved this book. Matt Haig really makes you feel apart of his work and makes his characters so enjoy. I would recommend his work to anyone. This book especially is a beautiful Christmas book that should be reread every year

Unfortunately, The Girl Who Saved Christmas wasn't a good match for me, and I will decline to review. I hope it finds plenty of compatible readers. Thank you for the opportunity to review!

I teach fifth grade and a lot of my students are starting to come to their senses with things happening around them. I love these stories by Matt because they help replenish the faith in adults and kids just the same. The Girl Who Saved Christmas has just as much charm as A Boy Called Christmas. These are stories that with your own children should be read aloud during Christmas time.

I found myself really liking this book & read it very quickly. It was such a great Christmas story. I would recommend reading to out loud at Christmas to the family.

Last year for the HoHoHo Readathon I had the pleasure of picking up Matt Haig's A Boy Called Christmas - it was a magical book and a wonderful way to start the holiday season. This follow up was just as magical and inspiring this holiday season. If you have not read A Boy Called Christmas, I highly recommend doing so before you read this book. The Girl Who Saved Christmas has a lot of references and characters from the first book.

In this new book you get multiple points of view, the girl - Amelia and then Santa and some of the elves as well. Amelia is the first person to receive a Christmas present ever and her hope is so strong that it helps Santa journey to deliver the presents all over the world. The hope strengthens the magic that he needs. This year though, Amelia has lost her hope in the magic of Christmas and Santa and Santa has to do something about it.

Like the last in the series, this book was so magical and full of love and the merry spirit of the holidays - I loved everything about it. Amelia was a sad but real character and Santa is his jolly self even in times of trouble, it was both realistic and uplifting. I really like the world that Haig has built for the holiday cheer and really liked the addition of Amelia into the story. The ending lit up my day and if you are looking for a sweet holiday read, I highly recommend these books.

Though I started this series out of order, I enjoyed this second entry in the series quite a bit. It's a pleasant, somewhat light-hearted imagining of how Christmas celebrations in Victorian England were brought about by the hope of a single child, a hopeful chimney sweep named Amelia Wishart. children will love the silliness and delightfully quaint adventures, while adult readers are sure to enjoy the cameo roles of Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria. Overall, this is sure to appeal to families looking for something new to share over the holidays. It would be a pleasant bedtime read to share between a parent and their adolescent child.

This was a fun read. Great for middle grade, or to read aloud to younger children. I absolutely loved how this story teaches that you should never underestimate the power of hope. The illustrations were so cute.

An absolute MUST-READ during the holiday season for anyone with a beating heart in their chests! I cannot sing the praises of Matt Haig enough because he's done it again! The same magic that permeates every single pages of A Boy Called Christmas is here in full force and it is spellbinding. You will be riveted by Amelia's story and you will probably do as I did and read through this one in one single sitting! Do not delay - get this for every child, teenager, and adult you know! They'll all thank you for it.

I liked the look of The Girl Who Saved Christmas when I saw it on NetGalley, and on reading I loved it so much I got the other two in the series from my local library as soon as I could!
These books, all three, are adorable. They are funny and touching, with just the right amount of toilet humour (haha). And the wonderful illustrations are the perfect complement to the writing - they are just amazing!

I read these completely out of order - The Girl Who Saved Christmas (book 2) first, followed by Father Christmas and Me (book 3), and A Boy Called Christmas (book 1) last - and it didn't matter at all. The stories do build on each other, but each can also stand alone.

I'm not really sure what else to say about these except that I loved them. I'll be keeping an eye out for copies to buy for us to read over again, and would definitely recommend them for your middle grade aged readers, or your littlies that are happy to listen to an almost chapter book (there are some pictures but not every page - kind of like a Roald Dahl book. In fact, the writing reminded me a bit of Roald Dahl!). Also, I recommended these to a friend and she got the audio book of A Boy Called Christmas, which is read by Stephen Fry and she tells me is completely wonderful.

I gave each of these four stars, a stack of gold coins, and a generous sprinkle of Christmas magic =)

The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig is a very charming story that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. It is the story of Amelia Wishart, who is the first child ever to receive a gift from Father Christmas. She never loses hope throughout the misery she encounters in her very young life and however much she would like to stop believing in magic and goodness, she never fully does. Her hope made that first visit possible, and, just a couple of years later, her hope might just save Christmas itself. 

The story takes place in two locations that couldn't be more different: Elfhelm, where it is clean and only ever gets as cold as you want it to be, and in 1841 London, where it is dirty, cold and unfriendly place to orphans.

The characters in the story are quite fun. Amelia and Father Christmas both have strong personalities with a firm determination to get things done. Mr. Creeper is just as his name predicts, he is creepy and not a nice man at all. The guest appearances of a ruling head of state and a famous author are perfect. One passage was hilarious and it took me several minutes to sop laughing before I could continue reading. I was amused.

I recommend this book for read-a-loud's to children and for middle grade readers. 

I received this book from NetGalley via Random House Children's Knopf Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review.

First off we loved, loved, loved book one. In book two Amelia Wishart lives in Victorian England and ends up becoming a chimney sweep just like her mother. There are a series of unfortunate things that are kind of depressing (but fit into the setting perfectly) Her mother dies, her guardian is called Mr. Creeper, and he eventually makes her live at the poor house. She has to give her cat (Captain Soot) away to Charles Dickens before her life starts turning around.

She meets Santa and starts to get hopeful that things may change for her.

After defending Elfhelm against a troll attack, Santa does not seem to have enough magic to get his sleigh air born. Santa decides that the best way to get the magic back is to find some hope in the world, and he believes that this hope resides with Amelia. He takes his sleigh as far as London on Christmas Eve and looks for the girl.

I have mixed feelings about this one- it gets just very sad so you need to be in a good place while reading it. I loved all the Santa mythology- but I'm saving it for another time as a read aloud.

This is a cute Christmas story with plenty of humor and a message about the power of hope.
However, I had mixed feelings about a few aspects of the story.

There were a couple of things in there that I think were a jab at Christians - I'm not sure. When the villain, Mr. Creeper, who has been described as hateful and nasty and mean, comes to take Amelia away to the workhouse, Amelia notes that he was carrying a Bible and a cane. At another point, when Amelia is trying to find someone to take her in, a street merchant directs her to go find the kindly Ms. Broadheart who helps girls like her. As Amelia is walking, she passes through a crowd leaving church and says that none of them looked like what she imagined this kind helpful lady would look like.

Aside from that, Amelia is not your typcial Dickensian orphan - when she gets the chance to take revenge, she takes it, and the manner in which it occurs is certainly something that would kill someone in real life. We're left hanging as to the actual fate though. When I started reading that part, I thought, Father Christmas will stop her, or tell her not to stoop to his level, or something, but he didn't. I thought it was kind of odd. Usually in these stories people learn to be the better person or let fate take its course.

Overall, a cute story with lots of fun humor, and interesting North Pole atmosphere, just a few quirks.

I started this book because I love holiday books! When I saw this title, I was a little hesitant because it looked a lot like fantasy. It is fantasy, but I enjoyed the wonderful way that the characters worked together to solve the problem and discovered the answers for Santa, the trolls, and the elves. I really enjoyed it!

I had no idea there was a Pt. 1. I was thinking it felt like something was amiss as I was reading it. Overall, not a bad little book! I think younger children will enjoy having it read to them, maybe even reading it themselves, but get the first book, first.

*thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

3.5 stars.
The magic of Christmas is truly felt in this story. Matt Haig is a wonderful author and Ive always enjoyed reading his books and this one didnt disappoint. After the death of her mother, Amelia Wishart is taken away to a workhouse. Treated with cruelty and no love (except a little from dear Mary), she remains locked up in there for a year, until a surprise visitor arrives to save her. But that is only a small part of this amazing book. I loved that Captain Soot (the cat), had an actual voice, even if only Amelia could understand him. This story also includes 2 famous people (excludong Sanat himself that is!). Along the way we meet Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria. Set in London, England, back in the olden days, this middle grade historical fantasy is perfect for this years coming Christmas.

Super cute! Readers of all ages will love this Christmas tale. Amelia Wishart is a brave young girl who gives hope to Father Christmas when things look bleak. Her rebelliousness is what I found to be her greatest asset. I enjoyed the illustrations in here, and I know others will too. Hope is the main ingredient that the world needs more of. In this book, you'll find good creatures and not so good ones - humans included. This is perfect for the holidays.

She's working as a chimney sweep, just like her mother used to. Her mother is ill. Last Christmas she wanted gifts and she got them. This year she just asks for help for her mother. The problem is that Santa never shows up and her mother dies. Then she's stuck in a workhouse and that's all she gets to do. It's hard to keep hope alive under continual work and punishment.

Knopf Books for Young Readers and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published October 31st.

Santa is having his own problems. The toys were ready, he was ready to head out for Christmas and the whole village came under a troll attack! They'd signed a peace agreement three years ago but it didn't seem to make much difference. They even destroyed the sleigh!

Now no one believes in Christmas and he's still trying to recover from the troll attack. His magic isn't working. And there's a traitor in the village...

You find yourself worrying about Amelia and Santa both. It's a good thing Santa has Blitzen to help him. I found this an enjoyable read with lots of excitement for young readers. Why not read about how Christmas started before the big day?