Roll over image to zoom in
The Christmasaurus
£3.80£7.60 (-50%)
The number-one-bestselling, magical first children’s novel from Tom Fletcher.
This is a story about a boy named William Trundle and a dinosaur named the Christmasaurus.
It’s about how they meet one Christmas Eve and have a magical adventure. It’s about friendship and families, sleigh bells and Santa, singing elves and flying reindeer.
It’s about discovering your heart’s true desire, and learning that the impossible might just be possible . . .
_____
‘Redemption, magic and gleeful silliness’ – The Observer
‘Genius’ – The Sun
‘Grown-up readers will love reading this charming, heart-warming book aloud’ – The Daily Express
Read more
Additional information
| Publisher | Puffin (2 Nov. 2017) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 400 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0141373342 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0141373348 |
| Reading age | 6 – 8 years, from customers |
| Dimensions | 12.9 x 2.4 x 19.8 cm |
by Rebecca Farren
10/10
When I heard that my favourite musician from my favourite band, Tom Fletcher from McFly, was writing his first novel I was so excited. When I found out it was a Christmas novel I was super excited. When it was revealed that the main character would be a wheelchair user, I was over the moon and desperate to read it! I grabbed a copy as soon as it was released and I was not disappointed!
William Trundle is a 10-year-old wheelchair user who is obsessed with dinosaurs. He lives happily with his dad Bob, until one day Brenda Payne, the meanest girl in the whole school (possibly the world!) joins his class and turns William’s life upside down. For the first time ever, William feels very different from his friends and he becomes miserable. Little does he know that far away in the North Pole is a lonely dinosaur called the Christmasaurus who also feels very different. On Christmas Eve, the two cross paths in the most unexpected way, leading them to embark on the adventure of a lifetime and build a friendship that will change them both forever.
The Christmasaurus is a joy to read. Tom talks to the reader directly, and uses lots of fun description and silly Roald Dahl inspired language like ‘kickerbashed and knockerboshed.’ In fact, Santa’s elves singing in rhyme reminded me of the Oompa Loompas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! There are loads of laugh-out-loud moments to amuse small kids and big kids alike. The enchanting illustrations and brilliant writing make it so easy to get lost in the story. I felt like I was actually eating Cosmos Converting Candy Canes and drinking North Star-bucks in the North Pole Snow Ranch!
Not only is The Christmasaurus well-written, it also captures what it’s like to be a wheelchair user perfectly. William is an ordinary boy doing normal stuff like going to school and playing with friends. On the other hand, he has experiences unique to being a wheelchair user, like needing help to pick up a dropped pencil or running over people’s feet on a semi-regular basis! I could relate to him so much; he reminded me of me when I was at school!
I was most impressed by how the book addresses the way that wheelchair users can be treated negatively because of their disability, and the feelings this can evoke like sadness, loneliness and guilt. This is so important, because there aren’t many wheelchair users in books, TV and films, so if you don’t have any other friends who are wheelchair users, it can seem like you are the only person to feel this way. The Christmasaurus reminds wheelchair users that they are not alone and emphasises that their lives and stories are just as important as those of non-disabled people.
As well as being full of fun and magic, The Christmasaurus is action-packed. I was thrilled to see so much danger and suspense throughout the book. These moments kept me hooked, but they also show that wheelchair users can be action heroes too. I wish I could be as clever and as daring as William in scary situations; he is amazing!
One thing I would like to see in Tom’s future novels (of which I hope there will be many) is more women and girl main characters. There is only one in The Christmasaurus and although girls will definitely still enjoy this book, they deserve stories with more of their own heroes and role models too!
Overall, The Christmasaurus is an outstanding novel with a key message about the importance of friendship and family, celebrating difference and believing in yourself. It is an incredible step forward in the representation of wheelchair users in children’s books, educating a new generation about disability. I hope that many more authors will follow Tom’s lead.
The Christmasaurus is a wonderfully warm festive treat for readers young and not so young. Whoever you are, I highly recommend that you ask Santa to pop a copy in your stocking this Christmas Eve!
by Tomato Ketchup
We were never very in to the Tom Fletcher picture books (such as Dinosaur Poops…) but have been extremely impressed with Tom Fletcher’s Children’s novels. We were gifted this book and we read this together as a family in the run up to Christmas 2020. We were not disappointed! The story is funny, exciting and just so well thought out and written. Tom Fletcher’s writing style is so easy to read, descriptive and funny.
This Christmas just passed, I purchased the Christmasaurus for friends and like us they have been very impressed. We read the sequel (The Winter Witch) and loved it even more than the first! Next Christmas we shall read the third! It’s a lovely way to spend December evenings in the run up to Christmas as a family of 3 children aged 4, 6 and 8.
by Lis Wilcox
Bought as an Advent gift for a 7 year old.
by Amazon Customer
This is a fabulous story. I read it to a class of 10/11 year olds and they loved it and also to my nephews (8 and 10) and they loved it too.
I’ve just given it to my 5 year old neighbour for Christmas. All ages will love it, including grandparents reading it their grandchildren.
by carla welford
Bought this for my son either for Christmas or birthday last year, he loved it. Think they read at school so he came home wanting it. It kept him very quite for a while and they was lots of laughs while he was reading it. I also read it to him sometimes at bed time and thought it was very good especially for Childs imagination
by megane driver
Bought for our granddaughter who has enjoyed reading these books
by Emma Henderson
Tom had done it again, a festive, funny novel that if I’m totally honest, I bought for myself rather than my son. He loves Tom’s books too but I love the tradition now if getting a Fletcher book and snuggling in, reading this to my son in a cosy room.
Lovely book, well written. Fab for children and adults
by Zag
I really enjoyed reading this with our nine year old. The magical story of William’s Christmas obsession and dinosaur obsession is lovely.
The author draws on many film and other Christmas influences but tells his own lovely story with superb illustrations too.
It covers some tricky subjects (William’s wheel chair troubles and the loss of his mum) with a delicate, thoughtful approach but did lead to a more serious chat or two.
Our nine year old read quite a bit to himself but it was best read together, Tom makes up fun vocabulary and Elf names so plenty of good phonics and spelling rules practice.
On paper we would give this four or five stars easily.
I loved it so much I got a 99p Kindle copy for me to reread myself and here’s where I hit a snag. On phones it is spoiled a bit as the page stays small due to the awesome illustrations. You can’t zoom in easily or read across the text or jump along like in comic read mode. It really breaks the flow.
On paper it’s four or five stars for sure, on a larger Kindle the same but small phone app screens make the text far too small.
I really hope this gets the film adaptation treatment one day but let’s hope they stay super faithful if they do that. It feels written to be a film to me. Brilliant.