On Christmas Eve

By Ann M. Martin

Book Overview

A heartfelt gift for every family, sure to be shared over and over each year. Eight-year-old Tess is convinced this is the year she will finally meet Santa, and experience "the Christmas magic." She... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439745888
• ISBN13: 9780439745888
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 0.5" x 5.5"
• Age Range: 7 to 10 years
• Grade Range: Grades 2 to 5

Customer Reviews

Christmas Magic Permeates this Sweet Book, but Beware! It's sad, too! (Spoiler alert)

Tess is a very likeable girl who believes in Santa and hatches a plan to see him and talk to him one Christmas Eve. She has always wanted to do this, but this year, she needs make a very special Christmas wish, and it has to be done in person. The story is sweet, full of the magic of the season and a charming, pure joy. However, there is nothing on the book jacket that indicates there is a character with cancer, and by March after Christmas everyone is at a funeral. This could be very upsetting to the young audience this book gears to. In my case, we have a parent in the family with cancer, and I can't believe I nearly gave the book to my child to read as a Christmas-y, magical, pick-me-up. I do wish the book jacket and blurb on the sleeve had been more open about the story line. If you or your child enjoys sad books, however, this is a very nice holiday read.

Story of love and magic.

Ann M. Martin also produces a lovely holiday story for advanced elementary to middle school readers: this, ON CHRISTMAS EVE telling of Tess, who believes in magic and is determined to view the 'real Santa', not the department-store fake. Her holiday wish is for a friend - and her faith results in a rare holiday indeed in this story of love and magic.

An enjoyable, heartfelt holiday romp that can't be missed!

It is Christmas Eve, 1959. Tess McAlister is nine-years-old, and while she is looking forward to the coming Christmas morning, she can't help but remember the magic she saw last year. When she was an impressionable young third grader, Tess spent the entire holiday season attempting to cheer up her friend Sarah, whose father was in the hospital with cancer. Tess did everything she could to cheer the somber girl up, even enlisting the help of her eleven-year-old sister Evvie, and her boy-obsessed friend, Maggie. Tess held tight onto an array of Christmas wishes. Wishes that were for her, her family, and, most of all, Sarah. She knew that it was up to her to confront Santa with her wishes, and did what she could to stay up last Christmas Eve. For she could feel the magic surrounding her. She knew that this would be the year that she would meet the elusive Santa Claus. Regardless of what the people surrounding her told her, Tess knew that the jolly old fellow was real. She had felt the magic swirling around her all season. And then, on Christmas Eve, after her parents had traipsed up and down the stairs, hiding gifts under the tree, Tess did something she had never done before...she crept downstairs and waited for Santa, her canine companion Sadie by her side. It was on this night that she planned on using the faith that had built up in her all season to seek out the only man who could possibly help her. The man who had the magic, and the power to heal Sarah's father, and make her friend happy once more. That was last Christmas. And now it is up to Tess to make this Christmas Eve wondrous. As wondrous as last year. I didn't quite know what to expect upon purchasing Ann M. Martin's ON CHRISTMAS EVE. I was so used to THE BABYSITTER'S CLUB books that she had penned, that I thought ON CHRISTMAS EVE would be something similar to those tales. However, upon reading just one chapter, I realized that I was wrong. Martin has managed to build up so much amazing Christmas magic in this tale, and transfer it into the reader's heart, as they flip furiously from page to page. Tess is a remarkable young character, who is wise beyond her years. Caring and kind, and an all-around saintly angel. Her adventures in attempting to meet Santa Claus are humorous, while at the same time selfless, and exciting to read about. The interactions of the characters are enjoyable, giving the reader the opportunity to meet an array of people, all looking to celebrate the holidays in a different way - from Sarah wishing for her father to spend Christmas at home; to Evvie wishing for make-up and curlers to impress boys; and to Tess, wishing that her friend could have her father back - healthy and happy. Each characters story interweaves with one another, creating the ultimate tale of love, faith, hope, and the magic of a wish. An enjoyable, heartfelt holiday romp that can't be missed! Erika Sorocco