Author Francesca Cavallo’s favorite holiday is Christmas, she tells us in the introduction to this seasonal tale. As a child, she loved Christmas movies, but when she grew up and wanted to start a family with another woman, realized that “in none of those Christmas stories could I find a family like the one that I hoped to start.” With this book, she hopes to change that.
As the story opens, the Greco-Aiden family—moms Isabella and Dominique, and their children Manuel, Camila, and Shonda—have just moved to the beautiful but dull city of R. They were fleeing a faraway country that recently elected a new president who had declared that families like theirs, “ones with two moms and three kids,” were illegal. (This is never explained further, begging the question of whether a family with two moms and two kids would have been allowed.) In R., nothing bad ever happens—in fact, the city is famous for it—but as a girl named Olivia explains to them, the downside is that nothing ever happens. All of the adults are afraid to talk with each other for fear of triggering something bad. Nevertheless, the family moves into a house on the adorably named Roomy Chimneys Road and settles in.
On her first day of work, Isabella, a mail carrier, delivers a surprise letter to her own children from Santa Claus, asking for their help in wrapping presents for the children of R. Santa’s sleigh, it seems, has been getting overloaded bringing all the presents from the North Pole. This year, he’s picking up presents at staging points in each city before delivery. But can the Greco-Aidens wrap 230,119 Christmas presents in time, even with the 10 elves Santa has sent to help them? To make matters worse, some nosy neighbors sense something is going on at the Greco-Aidens’ house and call the police to investigate. The children and elves have disappeared, though, and the police bring the moms into the police station for not knowing where their children are. New friend Olivia then steps in to figure out what’s going on, gathering a secret team of kids to help her. Can she find the missing Greco-Aidens and help get the packages to Santa in time? And will this unfriendly community learn to interact with each other again?
The adventurous family, holiday mystery, and elven magic will likely delight young readers. A few parts of the narration seem clunky, though, e.g., we don’t know that a girl whom we meet in one scene is really the Olivia we met earlier, until the descriptive text suddenly starts using her name halfway through. Even later in the scene, the girl’s father uses her name out loud, causing the Greco-Aiden moms (who can hear her but not see her) to realize who she is. The reveal would have had more punch if we, too, did not realize her identity until the moms did.
Additionally, parents should be aware that the family was fleeing a place where the children “would have been sent to an orphanage, and their moms to jail” simply for being a family like theirs. The family has escaped this awful land and is now safe and happy, but the idea of being sent to an orphanage because the government didn’t like your family might still scare some children, especially if they have been in foster care. Having said that, other children may not be fazed by this, or might find the family’s escape cathartic; make your own judgment about yours.
The illustrations are full of Christmas reds and greens and wintery blues, which should particularly engage readers making the transition from picture books. One mom is White and one a person of color who could be Black or Latinx; two kids are Black or Latinx and one White. A family that has two dads is also mentioned and seen briefly. There are a few small typos that should have been caught in editing, but young readers probably won’t notice. (Among other things, Santa’s “Flying Envelope©” invention should not have a © after it, which indicates copyright of a literary or artistic work, but rather a TM or ®, indicating a trademark.)
Overall, though, this is a fun Christmas caper full of mischief and magic that ends with the requisite doses of community, family, and holiday cheer. As Cavallo pointed out, we need more holiday tales that feature two-mom families (and other LGBTQ families, for that matter), and this one also helps fills a need for more LGBTQ-inclusive early chapter books on any topics. It is the first of an intended series.
For more LGBTQ-inclusive kids’ books about Christmas and other holidays, filter this database with the “Holidays” tag.
