I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This is a sweet story about an ornament that is magical to a family.

This was such a great book. It will truly be a great read aloud to all during the holiday time. It was a great story with great illustrations.

Eh. Not a fan. First of all, I do not like illustrations that are so realistic, it looks like a photograph. Its creepy looking and distracts me from the story. The story was just okay. It had a nice mystery element that was magical but not interesting. Not my cup of tea.
#Netgalley

I received this ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sweet story of a magical Christmas ornament that brings the magic of the North Pole to three young children. I will say that this seems to lend itself perfectly to a Christmas movie and ornament to sell. I liked the story but didn't find it was anything extraordinarily different from several other out there. I think kids will like it though.

I'm always looking for another Christmas book, but unfortunately this one isn't for us. A few of the visuals were very pretty but I have to agree with some of the other reviewers, most of them were just odd. Which would be fine if I thought that's what the creators were going for, but the images seemed really inconsistent. Some were more like drawings (which were the nicer ones) and the others were more like strange photos. I didn't fall in love with the story either, I found myself skipping blocks of text. I think the story would have been fine if it was written a little differently and was more engaging.

I really liked the story. My only issue was with the semi-real illustrations. They seemed too photoshopped in. Like the illustrator got a bunch of images off the internet and put them together which is not what an illustrator does. Fab story but would benefit from the illustrations being tweaked.

Three siblings (and their pet Westie!) are whisked away one cold December night, via magic ornament to Santa's workshop. And it's the night before Christmas, no less!...

This is a fun, quick bedtime storybook with big, colorful pictures. My favorite element is that the children's dog gets to go and do everything too! I'm left wanting more to this story though; I actually wish the adventure could have continued a little longer once they arrived at the North Pole. Still, it is a cute new book for this holiday season!

James and Victoria Barbato explore the magic of Christmas anew in this upcoming picture book release. The book comes in a decorative package and includes an ornament like the one in the story. A portion of all profits from this book will be given to the Marine Corps’ “Toys for Tots” program. Supporting this worthy program is perhaps reason enough to consider purchasing this pairing of items. Unfortunately, I struggled to find a singular theme. At one point the father states that "the magic of Christmas lives inside of you." And yet later when one of the children asks "How did we get here?" The answer is "through the magic ornament." And in the end we read "the ornament...continued to inspire them...for all the Christmases that followed." I also struggled to understand the concept of "the magic of Christmas" These quotations are from an advanced reader copy so perhaps the final text will be somewhat altered and of course, I could simply have a blind spot in my own imagination which happens from time to time and others love something I can't follow. There is liveliness, energy, joy and humor in the artwork which helps draw interest.

#TheMagicChristmasOrnament
#NetGalley

This was a story that I thought my grandchildren would love but sadly, they did not. We were all a bit weirded out with the illustrations. They were photos of people superimposed on a beautifully illustrated background. I think they would have been amazing if the characters had also been part of the illustration. The story was okay, a magic ornament, kids sneaking downstairs in the middle of the night, being whisked off to Santa's workshop. Nothing outstanding, just okay. The kids liked the Santa workshop part, but didn't ask to read it again and seemed a bit distracted while I read it to them. Not one I can recommend. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book upon request. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.

This was cute. I wanted it to be more amazing, more magical, more beautiful and make me feel like I was visiting Santa's workshop myself, but overall it just felt a little rushed. I feel like the plot was quite a good idea, but the execution could have been drawn out more and looked into with more description and magic. The illustrations were lovely and had such a homey, mystical feel to it, much like I wanted the story to provide for me. So personally, for me, the illustrations caught onto the heart of the book better than the actual writing did, and saved this book. 3 stars.

This book was given to me as an E-Arc in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.

Lovely book. My son loved me reading it to him. The targeted audience. It was easy to read and well written

A portion of this books sales goes to toys for tots. A lovely Christmas story with three children listening to their father tell the story of a family ornament. When JJ an elf comes in and the children go an an adventure.. also comes with an ornament

I'm not sure what I expected this book to be like when I originally requested it. The story was just ok. It seemed like it was trying to hard to be a 'classic' story. I also didn't like the art. The illustrations looked so terribly photoshopped I could barely focus on the actual story. I review Children's picture books quite often so I try to look at them from different perspectives, and maybe some children will enjoy this book, but I don't think I'll be adding it to any collections.

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was a beautifully illustrated Christmas storybook about a magical Christmas ornament and a family set on a adventure. Perfect for the holidays! A definite must buy.

"The Magic Christmas Ornament" tells the story of a family's Christmas, centered around a Christmas ornament that turns out to be magical. The children are swept up into a magical world that helps them focus on the importance of giving to others.

The full-color illustrations are beautiful. They reminded me of photographs turned into paintings. There were just a couple of things that I did not like. The elf who served as the guide for the children looked a lot like an elf featured in a Christmas movie. In addition, the notes at the end of the book state that the book will be accompanied by a Christmas ornament like the one in the story. I guess I just don't like that kind of consumerism. The story and illustrations are nice in themselves, without the need to tie them to an object. However, I can see how little kids might be entranced with the ornament too.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

I like reading children's fiction book because they usually make you feel better. And while I liked the story in this one I'm not so sure about the illustrations. They were just a bit odd. I get what the idea behind it all was but the execution could've been better. And that's why I can't rate this book with more then three stars. Illustrations in any children's book are very important to the reader and if they don't captivate you then the chances are that the rest of the story will fall flat. With better artwork I think I would've liked it more.

"Through the story their father had passed down to them, the kids now understood the magic of Christmas."

Well, that's good. At least somebody understands.

This book, intended to be a new Christmas classic (perhaps that's the first problem right there; if you're writing a book with the intention for it to be famous, rather than just wanting to tell a good story, the results might not be that great) is about three children who get whisked away to Santa's workshop by a magical Christmas ornament from their tree.

I don't like the illustrations (which appear to be photographic collages that were digitized to make them look painted), but even so, it irks me when the illustrator isn't given credit. His name only appears in small print on the copyright page. I don't know why this seems to be a convention in self-published picture books, but I think it's rather disrespectful. Anyway, as I said, I don't like the illustrations. They're a bit creepy. JJ is supposed to be a "young boy", but he looks about 30 in some of the illustrations. And the rigid gender stereotypes in Santa's workshop are a little off-putting; Victoria is shown playing with dolls and teddy bears, while her brothers get the cool toys like train sets and robots.

The story itself is just confusing. I'm not sure what the overall message is supposed to be. There are hints of something going on with the kids' dad, but I'm still not sure of the significance of the ornament or how it works.

The writing itself is technically strong, which is probably the best thing about this book. However, getting all the commas and verbs in the right places doesn't necessarily make for a good story.

The note at the end keeps referring to the book as a classic, but... come on. That's not up to the authors. It's up to the readers. Whether this book will become a classic or not remains to be seen... but with a price tag of $44.95, I kind of doubt it.

*thank you to Netgalley, Pure Imagination Enterprises, LLC and the author for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

2 stars.

This is just ok. After reading a couple reviews after I finished reading this I could see that others agreed with my thoughts. There seemed to be something off about the illustrations. They looked like a cut and paste job. Like the illustrator wanted to do an amazing job but then ended up cutting and pasting random parts together. They just don't blend together. Plus some parts of the images look like photos and in other parts, they looked like actually artwork. I think for it to have worked the illustrator needed to pick one method and stick to it.

The story was alright. Nothing amazing but an ok Christmas read. I can't see this being memorable but I can appreciate the effort the author went to to try and make it work.

I found this available to read on NetGalley and got an ebook of The Magic Christmas Ornament by James and Victoria Barbato.

The illustrations by Joe Huffman in this book are utterly breath taking and it actually feels like you are in the book with these children on their magic night.

The story follows three children on Christmas Eve after their father shares his story of one magic Christmas when he found a special ornament. The children magically go to Santa’s work shop and learn of Christmas magic.

I love anything cute and Christmassy and this certainly made you feel magical, it’s such a pure story of Christmas spirit and belief in children and how one thing can help you hold the Christmas magic in your hearts forever.

This will no doubt be a family favourite for many as it’s so beautiful and magical. (Plus when purchasing this book you are helping a great cause as some of the funds go towards the Marine Corps ‘Toys for Tots’. Which i think is such a wonderful thing to do.)