Letters From Father Christmas- J.R.R. Tolkien

For over 20 years, J.R.R. Tolkien would bring magic to his children's holidays by sending them letters from Father Christmas; the name children bestow Santa Claus in England. But these just weren't any old letters from St. Nick. These missives were epic adventures filled with interesting characters, weather reports from the North Pole, and battles with goblins who are obsessed with Santa's inventory of toy trains of all things.

The first letter was sent to eldest son John in 1920. According to a recent graphic novel biography I read about the friendship of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, this was a fallow period for the eventual creator of The Lord of the Rings series of books. Experts say that Tolkien expressed frustration at not being able to write a great mythos for the United Kingdom. But I would have to disagree with this assessment. In my opinion, these letters were the author exercising through the creative process to create what would eventually become 1937's The Hobbit, laying the foundations of Middle Earth. 

The maps, the elvish language and the willowy font Tolkien created for his works involving Middle Earth all take shape here. There's even a very large message written in the alphabet of the goblins, along with a cipher. I'm making it one of my holiday goals to decode it. 

So much reads like a Christmas version of The Lord of the Rings. The runes ans carvings of past humans described in those caverns. The underground lairs of the goblins. The different races of elves that help Santa and how to distinguish among them. The battles between Father Christmas and goblins. The weapons. The gigantic horn that you blow to summon defenders of the North Pole from great distances. The only thing missing is one ring to rule them all...

And we've got the war. The Lord of the Rings was a way that Tolkien would process his way through his trauma that he experienced as an officer during the first World War. The last few years of letters reflect those horrible memories returning with Hitler's constant aerial bombardments of the United Kingdom. Father Christmas bemoans the upheaval of families and the difficulty in securing certain gifts for the Tolkien children. In reality it's the voice of an earthly father worried about his sons who have gone to war and not being able to adequately provide for those who still live at home. 

This is a must for any Tolkien fan who not only loves Christmas but wants to witness the formation of Middle Earth. I think you even see some of the Inspiration for The Chronicles of Narnia, because isn't Father Christmas a character in those? Not sure. But I know that talking animals sure play a part in those works and this collection of yule tide correspondence sure has plenty of those.

Collected and published posthumously, this was a brilliant read that fittingly ends; albeit with a very bittersweet goodbye from Father Christmas. So you might shed a tear or two towards the end. But not before being taken to a magical world of myth, merriment and laughs.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Cat Dad: King of the Goblins (Family Comic Friday)

   This whimsical children's graphic novel appears suited to become the first in a series. However, there isn't any indication that it is, such as a volume 1 on the cover or a to be continued. The book written and penciled by Britt Wilson was sponsored by Canada Council for the Arts, a fantastic organization that has some great love for public libraries and has even published a Free Comic Book Day edition or two . It may very well be that more books will be forthcoming should this 2014 tale achieve a wide enough following.

   So what's Cat Dad about? At the beginning of this book, sisters Miri and Luey are doing their homework along with their buddy Phil, who is a giant frog. When mom accidentally turns dad into a cat, the trio must chase him down in order to change him back. But in a nod to the Chronicles of Narnia, dad runs into the linen closet which is a portal to a secret garden world. There, dad is kidnapped by goblins that look a lot like Man-Bat from the Batman series. But instead of a rescue attempt, the kids may have to kidnap the goblins new king!

   Cat Dad had some highs and lows and for me this read was mostly positive. The book was very funny and the characters were quite enjoyable- especially the goblins! Mom may or may not be a witch and I like the mystery behind trying to figure out if she is or just really unlucky enough to turn her hubby into a white fluffy feline.

  The art itself is quite whimsical too. I thought it looked familiar and upon further research about this book, I learned the reason why is because Britt Wilson was for a while an artist on the Adventure Time comic from Kaboom! Studios. The magic and hilarity of that series has obviously been carried over here.

   Okay, so what didn't work. In a short phrase: transitional plotting. For example: when the girls and Phil get lost in the goblin lair, they spy a spider crawling on the floor. The youngest girl runs after the spider, slips in a puddle, and then finds a map of the caverns while Luey yells "Get it? Get It?" First of all- I didn't get it. Secondly, the puddle. Did Miri smush the spider or did she discover an underground spring and really a map just appears out of nowhere? This book is geared for children aged 7-11, but I doubt even they would overlook such oversights!

    This is just Wilson's second independent work. So, maybe plotting is something she needs to work on. This also could be a fault of the editor. Even so, I'd gladly read more of this series if ever further sequels were published.

   Worth Consuming

  Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.