It is my stop today on the blog tour for Santa Steals Christmas audio book, written by Eve Nairn-Magnante.

Born 2009 in Edinburgh, Scotland, Eve Nairn-Magnante has been creating stories ever since she can remember. At the age of six, she recounted the first version of Santa Steals Christmas! to her father, Mark Magnante, who wanted to preserve it for her. He typed up the tale, as told to him by Eve, stowed it safely away and made plans to produce a single printed book as a surprise Christmas gift for when she was older.

It was one of Eve’s teachers who encouraged Eve to alongside an illustrator to achieve her vision of the story. So working closely with children’s book illustrator Nicholas Child, Eve provided initial sketches and creative direction for the look and feel of the characters, including sample drawings of the robots and input into the animal characters, Pretzel the dog and the two cats, Cookie and Basil.

Among the world’s youngest published authors, Eve is a passionate believer in diversity, equality and inclusion – she wants her stories to reflect the world she sees around her. That means characters of different ethnicities and abilities, as well as another of her passions: animals.

Eve has shown an incredible knack for storytelling. She is a believer in inclusivity and Santa Steals Christmas reflects her ethos in that it is written by a child for children everywhere. Recognised by Young Writers for her contributions, Eve continues to inspire and innovate.

My stop on the tour involves a book review.

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Title: Santa Steals Christmas

Written by: Eve Nairn-Magnante

Illustrated by: Nicholas Child

Narrated by: Olicia Caw

Published by:  EV3 Limited

Santa Steals Christmas is a dynamic mystery adventure that will hook young readers in the hunt for the naughty Santa imposter. The audio book is an extended version of the picture book with added details and observations. Some of these details seemed a bit too adult and I got the impression that although the audio book was based on Eve’s initial idea it has obviously been embellished by her father.

The narrator, Olivia Caw, has a mild Scottish lilt which added its own magical allure to the audio story. Her voice was easy to listen to and she read the story in an animated way with just the right amount of intonation to keep the listener focused on what was going to happen next, giving the Santa Steals Christmas audio book the lyrical tone you want in a Christmas story to create a memorable listening experience.

Nicholas Child’s illustrations in the supporting picture book were adorable. There are so many intricate details that will entice young children to browse the pages and discover where the Santa imposter is that is stealing the presents the real Santa has just finished delivering. Their colourful charm and humour will keep the children turning the pages.

I was impressed the typeface had been designed by a dyslexic for people with dyslexia to make the picture book accessible and inclusive to all readers. It was good to see 5% percent of the sales are being donated to Dyslexia Scotland and there is a lovely forward written by Cathy Magee the Chief Executive of Dyslexia Scotland to support the book.

It was also interesting that as well as donating 5% percent of the sales to Dyslexia Scotland, another 5% percent of sales will be donated to Scottish Autism, making this book a great way to help support these charities over Christmas.

The ending came out of the blue and I would have liked a little more foreshadowing to make it feel more credible. But on the whole this imaginative Christmas story has a satisfying Christmas message which encompasses the theme of family and togetherness. I particularly liked the subtle way readers are reminded Christmas is not all about the presents

So you can bet your biggest bunch of carrots this would be a lovely stocking filler, or book to cuddle up and listen to with your young children on Christmas Eve.

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Santa Steals Christmas is available to buy in paperback, e-book and audiobook from Amazon.

To see the other posts in the tour please follow the schedule:

I would like to thank Kelly from Love Book Tours for inviting me to take part in this tour. Thank you.

I have also reviewed this audio book on Amazon.