Letters From Father Christmas, J.R.R. Tolkien
This is a wonderful coffee table book that every Tolkien fan must own! It's just another display of his creativity and storytelling skills.
Beginning in 1926 and continuing through the childhood years of his four children, Tolkien would write letters to his children from Father Christmas . It's a unique little idea and I'm honestly surprised that more parents in general don't do the same sort of thing. You don't have to be a professional author to turn a letter to Santa into a back-and-forth, personal correspondence to extend the joy and excitement of the fairy tale. This book is a compilation of the letters he sent to his kids. Santa (Father Christmas in Britain obviously) would tell the children all about his adventures at the North Pole with his friends, most notably the North Polar Bear who assisted him in his workshop. There were elves too of course and he eventually worked in a named secretary elf that he relied on as much as the North Polar Bear.
Naturally, being Tolkien, Father Christmas and company were subject to goblin attacks and he gives comical accounts of how they had to bravely fight them off. Sometimes he was serious when explaining why Father Christmas couldn't get them exactly what they wanted during the years of WWII. It's a light hearted and heart warming tale spun over about 20 years that, I'm sure, made his children feel very special during the years they believed.
Included in the book is a photocopy of each letter next to the text. He had different handwriting for each character... Santa's being squiggly, Polar Bear's being blocky and the elf's being spidery. He also drew many pictures depicting the adventures being related and, again because it's Tolkien, a sample or two of elvish script. We'd expect nothing less.
This is one of the coolest things to have around to make you feel good any time of the year. You must buy it.
This is a wonderful coffee table book that every Tolkien fan must own! It's just another display of his creativity and storytelling skills.
Beginning in 1926 and continuing through the childhood years of his four children, Tolkien would write letters to his children from Father Christmas . It's a unique little idea and I'm honestly surprised that more parents in general don't do the same sort of thing. You don't have to be a professional author to turn a letter to Santa into a back-and-forth, personal correspondence to extend the joy and excitement of the fairy tale. This book is a compilation of the letters he sent to his kids. Santa (Father Christmas in Britain obviously) would tell the children all about his adventures at the North Pole with his friends, most notably the North Polar Bear who assisted him in his workshop. There were elves too of course and he eventually worked in a named secretary elf that he relied on as much as the North Polar Bear.
Naturally, being Tolkien, Father Christmas and company were subject to goblin attacks and he gives comical accounts of how they had to bravely fight them off. Sometimes he was serious when explaining why Father Christmas couldn't get them exactly what they wanted during the years of WWII. It's a light hearted and heart warming tale spun over about 20 years that, I'm sure, made his children feel very special during the years they believed.
Included in the book is a photocopy of each letter next to the text. He had different handwriting for each character... Santa's being squiggly, Polar Bear's being blocky and the elf's being spidery. He also drew many pictures depicting the adventures being related and, again because it's Tolkien, a sample or two of elvish script. We'd expect nothing less.
This is one of the coolest things to have around to make you feel good any time of the year. You must buy it.
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