Book Title: Keeping Christmas Magic by Anna and Gunnar Counselman

Category: Middle-Grade Fiction (Ages 8-12), 38 pages

Genre: Children’s Book

Publisher: Mascot

Release Date: August 2021

Synopsis

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​Shhhh, don’t tell! Keeping Christmas Magic reveals the true story of Santa Claus, asking you to become a Christmas Magic-Keeper.

Amazon * B&N * Mascot

Review

This unassuming cover is for a reason, or at least that is what I believe. Because this book imparts the truth about Christmas and Santa to a child that is growing out of that phase, the secrets to be shared must be done in secret and with the child in full agreement. I liked how the story draws in the young child and has them sign an agreement to not reveal the truth to those that still believe.

I enjoyed how the story was spun that the parents were doing this to help St Nick because there were so many children in the world and he was tired and needed help. It still keeps some of the magic alive for the older children.

It is a great book for older siblings and brings them into the mystery of Santa and encourages them to be good stewards of the Christmas Magic and be a Magic Keeper.

I would suggest not reading this book to the younger children that do still believe until they are ready to become Christmas Magic Keepers too. The page for signatures has many lines and it would be a great tradition and they could see that their older siblings had done this too.

We give the book 4 paws up.

About the Authors

Anna and Gunnar are the husband-and-wife team behind Keeping Christmas Magic. Anna immigrated from Russia at age 12 and began her American journey in Swampscott, MA, attending Boston University before moving out to California to pursue her entrepreneurial career which has culminated in her co-founding Upstart, an AI lending platform. A third-generation Marine, Gunnar grew up pretty much everywhere there’s a Marine base before going to Cornell for undergrad, deploying as a Human Intelligence Officer to Iraq, the Horn of Africa, and Bosnia before attending Harvard for business school. Gunnar’s entrepreneurial career has focused on education software and services where he’s founded and invested in a handful of companies including his most recent company, Array. When their then-six-year-old son Tristan started asking hard questions about Santa, they didn’t have a good answer. Wanting to keep Christmas as magical as possible for as long as possible they looked for a children’s book to help and when they couldn’t find one, they wrote it. Originally, the poem was just for Tristan and his baby sister Sasha, but some close friends convinced them to submit it for publishing, and the more they worked on the story, the more they felt like it needed to be told. They hope that the book does for parents around the world, what’s it’s done for them, help make an otherwise difficult conversation a beautiful experience instead.

Website * Goodreads

Giveaway

Enter to win a signed copy of KEEPING CHRISTMAS MAGIC (one winner/USA only) (ends Dec 13)

KEEPING CHRISTMAS MAGIC Book Tour Giveaway