Review: Well, I know it's a little bit early, and I did mean to ration myself, but once you pick this book up you just can't stop yourself from reading all of it. It's an absolute delight. Of course, it's meant to be for children but I found myself totally absorbed in the letters that Tolkien's Father Christmas sent to his children each and every December. The beautiful pictures alone were worth the purchase price ... they're stunning. Father Christmas's letters are full of wonderful tales about the North Polar Bear and how, although he meant well, he nearly always caused a disaster of some sort in the run up to Christmas, tales of terrible goblins and their attempts to sabotage things and stories about Snow Elves, Penguins, Red Gnomes and Cave Bears. Often the North Polar Bear writes too, adding comments or writing little letters himself .. his spelling is atrocious but then .. he is a bear, and it's all he can do to hold a pen.
I was very fond of my own Dad's attempts to be Father Christmas but tbh .. compared to this he didn't come close (though I would never tell him) it was too easy to suss him out. But I'm sure the Tolkien children must have been completely taken in ... I was (and I know the truth!!) As we already know from his books, he has a wonderful imagination and an innate understanding of how to connect with children, the letters are funny and completely magical and what was clever too is that he sometimes explained why he couldn't get a certain present or why maybe the presents weren't as plentiful as perhaps they had been in past years, lessening the disappointment and the complaints presumably (who would have guessed that goblins would do anything to get their evil mitts on anything related to Hornby trains?!?)
These letters date from the 1920's until the 40's when I guess his youngest child, Priscilla, had got too old for the letters anymore .. I would have insisted upon them continuing if I'd have been her .. even if I had sussed him out by then. I thought Priscilla got a bit of a raw deal compared to the others, her letters seemed a bit more hasty and she didn't always get a picture but then it was the war years and Tolkien was also a lot older by then so it's understandable. Glorious!! A perfect Christmas present for anyone .. adult or child.
Synopsis: The first ever B-format edition of Tolkien's complete Father Christmas letters, including a new introduction and rare archive materials. Every December an envelope bearing a stamp from the North Pole would arrive for J.R.R.Tolkien's children. Inside would be a letter in strange spidery handwriting and a beautiful coloured drawing or some sketches. The letters were from Father Christmas. They told wonderful tales of life at the North Pole: how all the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place; how the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Father Christmas's house into the dining-room; how he broke the Moon into four pieces and made the Man in it fall into the back garden; how there were wars with the troublesome horde of goblins who lived in the caves beneath the house! Sometimes the Polar Bear would scrawl a note, and sometimes Ilbereth the Elf would write in his elegant flowing script, adding yet more life and humour to the stories. No reader, young or old, can fail to be charmed by the inventiveness and 'authenticity' of Tolkien's Letters from Father Christmas.
Review: Well, I know it's a little bit early, and I did mean to ration myself, but once you pick this book up you just can't stop yourself from reading all of it. It's an absolute delight. Of course, it's meant to be for children but I found myself totally absorbed in the letters that Tolkien's Father Christmas sent to his children each and every December. The beautiful pictures alone were worth the purchase price ... they're stunning. Father Christmas's letters are full of wonderful tales about the North Polar Bear and how, although he meant well, he nearly always caused a disaster of some sort in the run up to Christmas, tales of terrible goblins and their attempts to sabotage things and stories about Snow Elves, Penguins, Red Gnomes and Cave Bears. Often the North Polar Bear writes too, adding comments or writing little letters himself .. his spelling is atrocious but then .. he is a bear, and it's all he can do to hold a pen.
I was very fond of my own Dad's attempts to be Father Christmas but tbh .. compared to this he didn't come close (though I would never tell him) it was too easy to suss him out. But I'm sure the Tolkien children must have been completely taken in ... I was (and I know the truth!!) As we already know from his books, he has a wonderful imagination and an innate understanding of how to connect with children, the letters are funny and completely magical and what was clever too is that he sometimes explained why he couldn't get a certain present or why maybe the presents weren't as plentiful as perhaps they had been in past years, lessening the disappointment and the complaints presumably (who would have guessed that goblins would do anything to get their evil mitts on anything related to Hornby trains?!?)
These letters date from the 1920's until the 40's when I guess his youngest child, Priscilla, had got too old for the letters anymore .. I would have insisted upon them continuing if I'd have been her .. even if I had sussed him out by then. I thought Priscilla got a bit of a raw deal compared to the others, her letters seemed a bit more hasty and she didn't always get a picture but then it was the war years and Tolkien was also a lot older by then so it's understandable. Glorious!! A perfect Christmas present for anyone .. adult or child.
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