Heidi Heckelbeck and the Christmas Surprise

Heidi Heckelbeck #9

by Wanda Coven

When Heidi gets in some Christmastime trouble, it will take more than magic to restore the holiday spirit!

Christmas is around the corner, and Heidi is very excited. She loves Christmas decorations, Christmas cookies, and, best of all, Christmas presents! But when she takes her mom’s special charm bracelet without asking—and then loses it—Heidi fears that her mom will be angry with her. And when she finally finds the bracelet, it has been totally crushed by a snowplow. Heidi tries to fix the broken bracelet with a spell, but that only makes things worse! Will Heidi have the courage to come clean and tell her mom the truth—and will there still be room for Christmas cheer?

With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Heidi Heckelbeck chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

Genres: Childrens, Christmas, Magic, Chapter Books, Juvenile, 1st Grade, Middle Grade

128 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2013

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

back cover

When Heidi gets in some Christmastime trouble, it will take more than magic to restore the holiday spirit!

Christmas is around the corner, and Heidi is very excited. She loves Christmas decorations, Christmas cookies, and, best of all, Christmas presents! But when she takes her mom’s special charm bracelet without asking—and then loses it—Heidi fears that her mom will be angry with her. And when she finally finds the bracelet, it has been totally crushed by a snowplow. Heidi tries to fix the broken bracelet with a spell, but that only makes things worse! Will Heidi have the courage to come clean and tell her mom the truth—and will there still be room for Christmas cheer?

[Katt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it can be very hard to do as we're told. Heidi learns this the hard way, when her mother gives her very strict rules about wearing a pretty charm bracelet she wants to give to Heidi someday. The problem is, like most kids, Heidi doesn't feel like her mom understands just how careful she would be with the bracelet and so she takes it, only to have something terrible happen.

What I liked about this book was Heidi might have resorted to her old tricks and magic to try to save the day, but she also does something really wonderful. By creating a present for her mother and giving it to her along with the truth, taking responsibility for what she did, Heidi shows a great deal of growth and budding maturity.

Overall, this is a good book, with a bit of fantasy, a touch of magic, and a happy ending. I would have loved reading this book as a child, especially at Christmas.

[Hillary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book out of curiosity about the series, as I was going to re-read some childhood favorites of mine with my kids, but then wanted to find some new series to introduce to them as well. I was telling my son (in second grade) how we read the Ramona Quincy books in third grade and I started looking up books and found the Heidi Heckelbeck books and the books about her brother. I knew I could read some and knock them out quickly myself to get a feel for the series to see if it was something my son and you get daughter might enjoy or if they were something I’d find appropriate for them before reading them with them. This book was really cute, with a sweet message. I liked that Heidi made typical, age appropriate mistakes that kids make, and her parents reacted lovingly and calmly. Lessons were learned, and love was given. Important things for kids to see, in my opinion! I look forward to sharing this story with my kids!

[Anna Salvesen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this one out loud with my mom. We both liked it. Heidi takes her mom's charm bracelet without asking for permission and it gets lost in a snowstorm. When she finds it, it has been run over by a snow plow. She does a spell to fix it, but she uses red sugar instead of regular sugar so it turns out all rusty. She asks Santa to bring another one instead of the original gift she asked for. Heidi makes her mom a bracelet for Christmas just in case. The bracelet shows up all shiny and new on the Christmas tree. Did Santa bring it? Heidi's mom isn't mad at her. She likes the bracelet Heidi made for her better anyway.

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that Heidi did something that she shouldn't have because she stole her mom's charm bracelet full of charms that her mom had collected over the years. Heidi lost it, but found it after a snow plow had crushed it. Because Heidi is a witch, she used one of her spells to make the charm bracelet as good as new, but it only made the bracelet worse. So she asked Aunt Trudy for help and the charm bracelet ended up all fixed and hidden in a tree on Christmas day.

[Amber Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this as a read a loud for our 6 and 4 year old, who pestered me to finish the entire book without stopping. It was SUCH a cute read. I especially love that it has a lesson to be learned about honesty.

[Charlotte L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because heidi lost her mom's bracelet and then they found the bracelet! Santa put her mom's bracelet in the tree! I was so happy because they found the bracelet at the end! I felt so surprise!

[Genesis · Rating 5 out of 5]

''Heidi Hecklebeck and the Christmas Surprise'' really surprised me!

[Advi Bedarkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heidi loved her mother's charm bracelet but her mother said she was too young to have it Heidi took it and lost it in the snow .

[Jen Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read out loud to my 7 year old daughter. She enjoyed it a lot and this is her favorite series!

[Kennedy Sexton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book ever

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter enjoys this series and really liked this book! I thought it was cute how it ended with true Christmas magic! Again, like the other books, it had a good learning lesson in it.

[Cora S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great an awesome 😎👍

[Nanny B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Treasures, a Queen, a Princess, jewelry, a snowman and hot chocolate: All are found in this lovely chapter book for kids at Christmas.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice chapter book. It has several illustrations on the pages so helps, when like myself am reading it out loud to my special needs teen age son that can't read for himself. This is apparently book #9 of a series but we have never read any of these books and found this story to be nice. Although she had a 'spell' she chanted to fix a broken braclet. That I wasn't to found of but that is my personal opinion. Nothing 'bad' about it just my own opinion about exposing children to spells and such. But that was just on a few pages not throughout the story.

Wonderful story to help teach children to mind what their parents tell them. The little girl, Heidi, was told not to go in her mother's room and take a braclet from her jewelry box without permission. But she does take it and it gets broken right before Christmas. She feels horrible about it and knows her mother will be mad so doesn't tell her mom about it. The story is about what she does and at the end how her mother does react when she finally tells her.

Heidi's little brother Henry, although not a major character to the storyline adds just a little extra 'fun' to the storyline as well.

[Marya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Santa must be a warlock or something based on what we see here because he magically fixes in two days a problem Heidi's Aunt Trudy says will take 6 weeks worth of magic to solve. Heidi is pretty realistic here, not wanting to tell her mom about losing and breaking her mom's charm bracelet for fear of mommy's anger. Yet, Mom is amazingly calm about the whole thing and even senses that Heidi's remorse was enough to teach Heidi an important lesson. I didn't sense that remorse (and the series has shown Heidi successfully remorseful before); but then, maybe Mom's just being nice on Christmas.

[Kaytee · Rating 4 out of 5]

HEIDI WAS PLAYING DRESS UP WITH HER FRIEND LUCY THEN SHE WENT TO GET THIS VERY SPIECHL BRACLET. THEN AFTER PLAYING IN THE SNOW. SHE REALIZED THAT THE BRACLET WAS GONE. THEN SHE TOLD HER FRIEND. THEN SHE HAD A PLAN SHE TOOK OUT HER BOOK OF SPELLS THEN WHEN SHE TOOK OUT THE BRACLET IT HAD RUST THEN SHE WENT TO AUNTS HOUSE. THEN SHE OPENED HER PRESENT HOPING IT WOULD BE THE BRACLET BUT IT WASENT THEN SHE TOLD HER MOM ABOUT IT THEN SHE WAS NOT MAD THEN HER LITLLE BOTHER SPOTED SOMETHING IT WAS THE BRACLET.

[Sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

heidi borrows her mom's charm bracelet. when she plays in the snow it falls off. snowblowers blow away the snow and she find it crushed and can't fix it. so she makes another charm bracelet and prays that santa fixes the old one. on christmas finds the bracelet fixed.

[Kelly Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magic, Santa, and a charm bracelet all come into play in this book. The pattern of this series continues. It always seems that Heidi gets in trouble when she casts a spell. The spells are very specific to each of her situations, and the ingredients always seem easy to find.

[Jenifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do you tell your mom that you ruined a special bracelet? This is a great book for a second grader on up. Simple words but a solid story.

[Amy Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What I loved about the story is when Heidi finally told the truth about what happened with the bracelet. It is always best to tell the truth about something before you try to fix it."

[April Suter · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite in the series. How can Heidi fix a mistake she made? A spell? Ask Santa Clause? She loves her mother and wants to grow up like her.

[Charles McGonigal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fine kid's story. Enjoyed reading it with my daughter.

[Richelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute series for kids. Start with book one for an character discovery, then feel free to jump around.