The Legend of the Christmas Witch

by Dan Murphy (Author) Julia Iredale (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

From Parks and Recreation star Aubrey Plaza and creative partner Dan Murphy comes the long lost tale of the Christmas Witch, Santa Claus's much misunderstood twin sister. 

Gather 'round the fire to hear a Christmas legend that has never been told before...until now. Each year a mysterious figure sweeps into town, leaving behind strange gifts in the night. No, not Santa Claus, but his sister... The Christmas Witch. Her story begins many, many years ago when her brother was torn away from her as a child. Raised alone by a witch of the woods, Kristtōrn's powers of magic grew, as did her temper.

Determined to find her long lost twin, she set out on a perilous journey across oceans to find him. But what she found instead was a deep-seated fear of her powers and a confrontation that would leave the fate of Christmas hanging in the balance. From award-winning producer and actress Aubrey Plaza and her creative partner Dan Murphy comes a holiday story unlike any told before. With all the richness of classic folklore, they've woven a tale of bravery, love and magic. Whatever you thought you knew about Christmas...think again.

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Publishers Weekly

Copper-haired infants abandoned in the Black Forest come to disparate ends in this "forgotten" dark myth. Though young Kristtörn and Kristoffer share the "gift of swiftness" and a life in the woods, the arrival of a cinnamon bun-toting Danish couple--the Kringles--ends with pastry-intent Kristoffer abandoning his sister, who is subsequently taken in by the Yule Witch Lutzelfrau. While Kristoffer learns his adoptive woodcutter father's trade and internalizes "a strong sense of duty and hard work," Kristtörn lives "a wild, carefree life in the forest," learning magic but proving mercurial. When disregarding Lutzelfrau's counsel ends in a flight to the South Pole, Kristtörn takes up a seasonal search for her North Pole-dwelling twin. Employing fairy tale diction, producer Murphy and actor Plaza meld pagan and Christian elements into blocks of text elevated through Iredale's moody folk art. Though the story upholds folktales' neither-here-nor-there ethics, an exploration of male privilege ends up punishing the temperamental female protagonist, undercutting the spooky seasonal telling. All characters read as white. Ages 5-8. (Oct.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Raves for The Legend of the Christmas Witch

In a story that pairs the popular holiday with the pagan background of Yuletide, questions of intolerance and human flaws offer interesting layers to ponder and discuss... A well-written and thought provoking tale.—Kirkus Reviews

The story is steeped heavily in the fairy tale tradition—raven scouts, capes woven from leaves, the ability to talk to animals, a queen who lays frozen under ice—and, especially when paired with illuminated-style borders and the deeply saturated colors of the artwork, it conjures up the magic of the Grimms and Andersen.—Booklist
Dan Murphy
Aubrey Plaza, originally from Delaware, is best known for her role as April Ludgate on Parks and Recreation. She has produced and starred in several films, as well as performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York. She currently lives in California and is known to dress up like a witch every Christmas.

Dan Murphy is a writer and producer who lives in Los Angeles, California. Originally from Delaware, he is a graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and has been creative partners with Aubrey for over fifteen years.

Julia Iredale is an illustrator fromVictoria, British Columbia. She studied illustration at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and now spends her time painting, making books, and, whenever possible, escaping into the magic forests of the Canadian West Coast.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780593350805
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Viking Books for Young Readers
Publication date
November 16, 2021
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV037000 - Juvenile Fiction | Fantasy & Magic
JUV013070 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Siblings
JUV017010 - Juvenile Fiction | Holidays & Celebrations | Christmas & Advent
Library of Congress categories
Picture books
Witches
Twins
Ocean travel
Christmas fiction

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