The Christmas Mystery Paperback – January 1, 2010

I read Jostein Gaarder's Solitaire Mystery and Sophie's world, so I knew anything by him will be interesting. I was not disappointed. My husband and I read the kindle version aloud, one calendar day chapter each morning, just checking it out for our grandchildren. But soon we got interested and intrigued by the clever and well researched and documented stories underlying the main story. An 8-year-old girl runs after a little lamb and ends up traveling back in history from Norway in 2000 to Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth. On the way, each day is joined by another figure (shepherd, wise man, angel, more sheep) and learns from them about geography and history in those places at that time, for example the pied piper of Hamlin at the time of black plague. Eventually we had to open the atlas to follow her journey! It was all sweetly informative. A perfect advent book for a family to read together. The ending was a little let down, like always when a mystery is solved. My husband did not like the ending, would have preferred, if it ended with a question mark. I liked it.As soon as we finished I ordered a paper edition to be sent to our grandchildren for next Christmas advent. They are 6 and 8.

Thank you for having this book. My family read this every December for years as a Christmas tradition and now I get to share it with my children. Christmas is going to be awesome this year!!

I thought reading a chapter a week from December 1st until December 24th was an intriguing and fun concept, but the chapters ended up being both forced and formulaic. The story feels like a forced march across Europe, with occasional short bursts of description or dialogue (always ending with, "To Bethlehem! to Bethlehem!") but there is never enough dialogue or description to feel like it is more than a bit in a tourist's guidebook or a scant attempt at giving the wooden characters some sort of personality.The present time story about the mysterious Advent calendar is at first interesting, but then begins to feel contrived and manipulative. The author's insistence "'That Jesus came into the world to teach people to be kind to one another. No other lesson is more difficult for a human being to learn, but no other lesson is more important.'" (from Day 19) at first is a little grating, but after he repeats this over and over it becomes distressing. I wanted to take the author by the shoulders and ask him, "Haven't you ever read John 3:17-18? Where on earth are you getting the idea that Jesus' biggest message was to play nicely with each other?"I had hoped for more from this book, but ended up being quite disappointed. It is a great concept, but so poorly executed I can't imagine including this as a regular Advent tradition.

The Christmas Mystery hinges on an unusual Advent calendar, the story it tells, and what that story means for the "real" world. It's a change from the usual Advent fare, and the calendar's story takes us on a delightful run through geography and history. In the end, though, the author leaves the magical tale and replaces it with an unbelievable mundane explanation driven by the author's political biases. If you skip over that part, the magic of the story will still delight. Parents should be aware that for several chapters the young protagonist hides the mystery from his parents through deception and outright lies, until the parents discover the secret. The parents are blamed for their snooping but the boy is never chastised for his lying.This particular edition (blue paperback) has many typesetting errors.

Purchased as a gift for a friend. Very well packaged. Shipping time was very good. The book (paperback) appeared to be well constructed and I feel good presenting it as a gift.

This book is one of my favorite stories about a small girl following a lamb back in time and traveling to Bethlehem. The history and the journey is a wonderful tail.I bought this copy to give as a present.

This is a really nice tale as a lead up to Christmas. It makes a great story to read as each door is opened on an advent calendar.

I really enjoyed reading this book to my grandchildren. I gave the older siblings a copy so they could read it the next year to their younger siblings. My granddaughter (who was nine at the time of the first reading) and I found quite a few typos, but they didn't hamper our understanding and enjoyment of the story. The book is meant to be read as an Advent calendar (one chapter each day beginning Dec. 1 and finishing Dec. 24). The story begins in northern Europe in this century, travels back in time through Europe to the Middle East, and ends in Bethlehem at the birth of Jesus. My grandchildren loved it.

I first discovered this wonderful little book about six years ago and it has become a traditional part of my Christmas preparations. Written in twenty-four parts, to be opened from 1st December to Christmas Eve, it is two stories in one. At its heart is a group of pilgrims - shepherds, sheep, angels, Wise Men, and a little girl from Norway - who travel back in time to visit a stable in Bethlehem. But wrapped around it is the story of Joachim and his parents who gradually uncover the meaning of the Magic Advent Calendar they find in an old bookshop.This is a delightful book for children of all ages; I have just finished reading it and will now put it away until 1st December 2018 when I will start it again. Highly recommended.

I ordered this book as I am a school Reading Helper and I thought it might be nice for the school term running up to Christmas holidays. I read it and was fascinated by the tale and the writing is beautiful. I decided it was too advanced for the age group I had in mind after reading it and getting to know the children I now work with. I think it is young adult material and I enjoyed it myself so will probably read it again soon.

This is a most unexpected and mysterious and exciting book - based on the revelations of an Advent Calendar bought by a child at the beginning of December. It takes us day by day thro' Advent to the birth of Christ, but at the same time it takes us on travels thro' history back 2000 years. It would spoil the story to say more - just buy it and read it - it's for any age!

I have a rule of only reading books to my children that I myself will hopefully find interesting. Oh my goodness this didn’t disappoint!! Brilliant concept of walking from Norway to Bethlehem at the same time as going back in time. Kid friendly as well as adult friendly! Highly recommended, a good education in geography and theology, as well the Christmas story. Great translation and relatively easy to read too!

Ok - I get this is a children's book. And it's about Xmas.But...It ain't half dull.Once you get the idea that this advent calendar book is a journey back in time with each day taking you closer to the birth of Jesus picking up, most days, a nativity character (a shepherd here, a king there, and few angels and plenty of sheep) you could put the book down because nothing much else of interest happens (even the modern day Palestine refugee angle that was shoehorned in was lame)I'm pretty sure as a child I'd have found this book dull. As an adult, it had nothing of interest.(As it was one of our book club nominations for December I'm curious to see if I'm the only Scrooge like person who failed to find much festive cheer in the book).