This one left me like Nuggets.

Review of :


A First Christmas, Friends and Festivity

ISBN 978-1-4327-6089-2

List Price: $13.95 USD

Juvenile Fiction



Reviewing books is akin to panning for gold, you have to sift through a lot of material to find tiny amounts of gold, sometimes finding a few flakes. Once in a great while, you find a solid gold nugget. They're rare, valuable as they are, and beautiful. A First Christmas, Friends and Festivity is such a nugget, though the title doesn't create that impression right off. In years of reviewing and working with books of all genres as both a reviewer and editor, I must say A First Christmas is one of the best written works I've ever seen, this includes books written by well known names.



Captain Sean Noonan wrote the book, originally for his own children, but it came out so well, everyone that saw it begged him to get it published, so he did. I won't say there aren't a few flaws, but they're very few and relatively unnoticeable to the untrained eye, much like in the gold nuggets so rarely found.



The book takes us on a fastastical journey through a dream world where anything is possible, especially on Christmas Eve. Elannah and her brother Sam often spend time in this beautiful dream world. This time, the pair want to have a Christmas Eve Party for the Bridge Troll, since he's never celebrated Christmas before. Their friends, Rodger Badger, Pokey the Hedgehog, Grumphspawn the Wizard, and a few others join in to help with the party, which must have the best of everything for the Bridge Troll's first Christmas celebration. Captain Noonan's children provided some cute art to make the book even more fun.



When asked why and how he wrote the book, Captain Noonan replied, "I wrote the book for my children. The first one I didn't originally intend to publish, I just wrote it to read to my kids and have fun on fireworks night. They liked it so much that I ended up telling some friends about it, they asked to read it too. Enthusiasm grew further from there and I thought I had better have a serious test and send it to my wife Liz's parents. Sandra, her mum, reads 2-3 books a week so knows a good story when she reads it, Charles, her Dad was a Royal Marine Commando, an elite fighting force in the UK services, so he shoots straight from the hip with no prisoners taken, or even considered. They both loved it to bits, so the book was sent to a publisher recommended by an Irish man I know. "



"A First Christmas started to form very quickly in my mind as the next book subject, since it was approaching Christmas and we love the festive season. What I wanted for this adventure was to have a thrilling time that expanded the characters we had introduced in the first book and embraced the Christmas spirit."



When I asked what he was trying to achieve with the book, Captain Noonan responded: What I would like for this adventure is to have it bring joy into the lives of all who read it. (This reviewer thinks he's done that admirably) "I keep the books very positive and thrilling, the next one will be an adventure in Grumphspawn's home at Halloween. It is growing in my mind though I have to put it down until I finish Salty Sea Dogs and Oceans of Fun, the third book. I have five ideas for more books in this series which will be written and more ideas are crowding in all the time. I am very fortunate to have a wonderful family that provides inspiration constantly. One of my pet phrases of the moment is 'That'll go nicely in the next book'. I feel the adventures would make good movies." (This reviewer and his wife agree with that sentiment.)



This book is labeled Juvenile Fiction, but frankly, it's a great read for adults, or adults to read to younger children. Anyone that reads it should enjoy it. It'll lift you out of a bad mood after a long day, a person can't ask more of a book than that, can they? It's a little difficult to find in stores, but is becoming more widely available in the US all the time. It's readily available at Amazon.com.

Dave Broughton.