The Legend of the Christmas Witch

Author

Dan Murphy

Illustrator

Julia Iredale

Publication Date

November 16, 2021

Genre / Grade Band

Fiction / 4^th − 5^th

Language

English

Format

Picture Book

Hardcover

Description

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.

Publication date

November 16, 2021

Genre

Fiction

ISBN-13

9780593350805

Publisher

Viking Books for Young Readers

BISAC categories

Library of Congress categories

Picture books
Witches
Twins
Ocean travel
Christmas fiction

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.)

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.

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