Official Review: The Legend of Stormy and The Great North...

krystalyee3 · Post by **krystalyee3** » 16 Jun 2020, 19:08

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Legend of Stormy and The Great Northern Christmas Spirit & Tree Company" by Thomas L Jaegly.]

2 out of 4 stars

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The Legend of Stormy and the Great Northern Christmas Spirit & Tree Company by Thomas L. Jaegly is a coming-of-age story of Brandi, a young preteen that is starting to question her family’s Christmas traditions. There are so many traditions that she has blindly followed all her life that she begins to ask herself why these traditions exist. Her grandma decides to tell her one night over cups of cocoa and warm cookies as they wait for their relatives to come over for their holiday celebration.

Jaegly’s writing style is a bit verbose, which made it difficult to hold my attention. The book is slow to start with tedious descriptions of the grandma’s meticulous tree decorating and cocoa making processes, two of the traditions Brandi questions. I rationalized that perhaps the long-winded accounts were meant to allude to the comforting familiarity of these traditions, but I still would have preferred more brevity. While the mystery of the traditions piqued my interest, the reasoning for them felt a touch anticlimactic. Also, the story could benefit from more detailed portrayals of the Christmas village. I feel many readers decide to pick up holiday novels because they want to read about these magically whimsical utopian worlds. In my opinion, this could have added to the intrigue of where these traditions came from.

The redeeming factor of the book is the plot. I love the premise of a granddaughter questioning Christmas and a grandma recounting her life to reveal important life lessons to her. The character of Brandi is thoughtful. Her characterization as a blossoming child trying to enter the exclusive society of adulthood is delightful. All she wants is to be “in” on the adult secrets of Christmas. Many middle schoolers can relate to this feeling. The story has good bones, but just needs to be developed a bit further. For these reasons, I rate this book a 2 out of 4 stars. If the author would have been more concise, I would have considered giving the book a 3 out of 4 stars.

This book is meant for readers in the middle school age group that enjoy stories about Christmas and family. The holidays should conjure up feelings of joy and happiness for anyone who would enjoy reading it.

The Legend of Stormy and the Great Northern Christmas Spirit & Tree Company has the foundation to be a beloved holiday classic, but needs a few edits to get it across the finish line. I finished the book still wondering the exact reason why Stormy was the topper on the grandma’s Christmas tree every year. As the central plotline of the story, the author could have done a better job getting his message across to the readers.

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The Legend of Stormy and The Great Northern Christmas Spirit & Tree Company
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Gabrielle Sigaki · Post by **Gabrielle Sigaki** » 18 Jun 2020, 04:56

The premise of this book is good, but I don't know if I'm going to read it since it has a lot of descriptions, and that's not my kind of book. Thanks for the great review!