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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
So sweet, I can’t wait to read this one with M and then read the next books. The author is coming to visit her school in the fall (hopefully!)
A great family story about a wonderful, warm, New York city family. The five Vanderbeeker children learn that their family will have to leave their beloved brownstone home on Harlem because their landlord has suddenly refused to renew their lease. And, it’s Christmas.
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was the first book my girls and I finished reading together in 2025. We started over Christmas and continued into the new year. It lives up to the hype and I can see why the Vanderbeeker children are so well loved. We’ve loved this sibling crew’s antics and the story lead to some pretty good discussions between the three of us. We’ll be continuing on in the series eventually for sure!
Content Warnings
Minor: Grief
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Leaning toward a 3.5 I think?
This book is cute but ultimately forgettable. I'm not mad I read it, but I don't think it was for me, so this might be better for someone in the intended age bracket.
Two things of note: this book did not make me feel like it was Christmastime (even though it is explicitly set at that time of year), the kids are noted as being (seemingly) half Asian (not explicitly but that seems to be the implication) at some point early on in the book, but their descriptions did not stick with me at all. Not sure if it matters or if it's my brain doing some sort of whitewashing, but it struck me as odd when I would remember it throughout the text. To be fair, I forgot the dog was a basset hound basically all of the time except when it was explicitly stated.
Some of this is probably due to reading this as an e-book so the details on the cover are near impossible to make out without finding a high quality google image, and some of it was just that it felt kind of shoehorned in and never mentioned again.
But this is a sweet, feel good, found-family sort of book for kids, so those details don't matter that much.
--
ATY 2022: #6 - A book with an image of a source of light on the cover
(A lamp that is, funnily enough, not on)
Popsugar 2022: #18 - A romance novel by a BIPOC author
(The romance here is with their home, the brownstone, and I think it counts)
This book is cute but ultimately forgettable. I'm not mad I read it, but I don't think it was for me, so this might be better for someone in the intended age bracket.
Two things of note: this book did not make me feel like it was Christmastime (even though it is explicitly set at that time of year), the kids are noted as being (seemingly) half Asian (not explicitly but that seems to be the implication) at some point early on in the book, but their descriptions did not stick with me at all. Not sure if it matters or if it's my brain doing some sort of whitewashing, but it struck me as odd when I would remember it throughout the text. To be fair, I forgot the dog was a basset hound basically all of the time except when it was explicitly stated.
Some of this is probably due to reading this as an e-book so the details on the cover are near impossible to make out without finding a high quality google image, and some of it was just that it felt kind of shoehorned in and never mentioned again.
But this is a sweet, feel good, found-family sort of book for kids, so those details don't matter that much.
--
ATY 2022: #6 - A book with an image of a source of light on the cover
(A lamp that is, funnily enough, not on)
Popsugar 2022: #18 - A romance novel by a BIPOC author
(The romance here is with their home, the brownstone, and I think it counts)