Stealing Christmas

by Matthew Sullivan

Seventh-grader Mitch Murphy never wanted anything as much as he wanted a Playstation 4. And he was on his way to getting one for Christmas, too.

But when his cousins get into a blowout food fight on Thanksgiving, Mitch gets caught in the collateral damage, and they all lose their Christmas presents as punishment.

Stripped of the gift he spent the past year obsessing over, all hope is lost for Mitch ... that is, until he discovers where all of the their presents are being stashed.

Now, Mitch must corral his motley crew of cousins to help him pull off a heist to steal their Christmas--and his PlayStation--back.

Genres: Fiction, Christmas, Holiday, Contemporary, Middle Grade

260 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

Matthew Sullivan is an author and screenwriter who found his calling after a yearlong battle with cancer. He specializes in coming-of-age stories that are humorous and heartwarming and focus on themes of empathy, empowerment, and human connection.

In his fifteen years as a writer, Matthew has sold several television and film projects, with one making it to the big screen, and has released three novels, with three more coming in 2020.

The second oldest of seven children, Matthew was born in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. and raised there and in central Minnesota. He currently lives in Scottsdale, AZ with his amazing wife and two young daughters.

For more information on Matthew or to sign up for his Readers' Group and receive updates and free reads, visit his website www.matthewsullivanwriter.com.

Reviews

[✨Jinglemarco✨]

How lovely the reference to HOME ALONE! ;D

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice read

Nice quick read and a good message in our crazy world especially during the holidays. While I enjoyed the book as an adult it would be a great read for my kids as well!

[Cliff Bathke · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Mitch is in 7th grade and all he wants for christmas is a playstation 4. rumor has it Santa will be bringing him one if he stay good, but when a food fight breaks out at the Thanksgiving dinner table between his cousin he gets mixed up in the blame game. Trouble comes and takes all their gifts away but Mitch finds where his parents stashed them and now he wants to steal them back with the help of his cousins.
2. grade 4-6
3. I would read this around the holidays to remind kids to stay on there best behavior.
4. I would give this to my overly energetic kids to read.
5. Small groups could discuss how they got mixed up with family when they got in trouble.
6. I would have students share what their favorite gift ever was.
7. The Broken Christmas tree
8. No Connection for this book

[Dia]

I didn't get very far before I returned this for a refund. I was looking for a fun christmas book to read to my kids ages 8, 10 and 11. A couple pages in two friends discuss another friend who was stealing quarters from his parents room every day for years. One day he goes in to steal and catches his parents doing "the parent thing". He is traumatized and is never the same again. This is brought up while one of the boys is pressuring the other one to search the house for christmas presents and they talk about how they are always disappointed with their presents at Christmas because they don't get the big things they want. From the synopsis it sounds like the main character learns some good lessons by the end of the story but I wasn't will to take the risk.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute story about a group of related youngsters that have their Christmas presents taken from them by their parents for childish behavior, and how they plan to steal them back. Since I like Ocean's Eleven I liked all the references to that movie, but I didn't think it was cool to mention all the R-rated heist movies in a book geared toward middle age youth, even if the parents in the story would not have approved of their son watching such movies. I really liked the ending and the lessons learned.

[Shelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Xmas Story for tweeners

This was a good read for a younger audience and while the moral messages were spelled out plainly it didn't read as preachy. Good characterizations and funny but predictable (for us old folks any how) plot.

[݁𝜗𝜚 tasia (matching with beloved aimes) 🧸ྀི · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the adventure it took me on and the moral it told! Except I thought that the aging just wasn’t right. A 13 year old boy who plans heists for Christmas? Sounds more for a 11 year old. And the fact that this 13 year old wants a PS4 and doesn’t want anything else. I wished it showed a little bit more of…”it’s not all presents” than just at the last few pages.

[Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merry Christmas

What a GREAT story.
I’m proud to say I’ve never gotten myself into this box, and I hope I never do. Maybe because I fear I’d not handle it as well as these guys did.
Oh! Merry Christmas.

[Mindy Jacobs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute concept. Loved the cousins all coming together…even the ones who were sworn enemies. However there were so many grammatical errors in the book that it was hard to read at times. Misspellings, missing words, and wrong words used at times.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

C+. fiction, YA, cousins, involved plotting, Christmas.

[Jamilya Scheve · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is definitely not a kids' book.

[ADHD Book ✨Gal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute YA book that even as an adult still nice little read. Kinda see the ending coming but very cute and has heart and charm.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, fun read. Children in my class read it and they really enjoyed it. Would make a good movie.

[Peter Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. I liked the idea a lot, and the way the author referenced heist movies. It definitely could have used a little editing help with pacing and some incomplete sentences. What really would have helped me as a reader would have been a list if the characters. With so many of them, it was hard to remember which were siblings and sometimes that was important to the story. The ending was a little frustrating. I get why it ended that way, but that didn't keep me from feeling the frustration!

[Karjiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for a cute, quick read that takes place in December and this book was all of that! It was really light-hearted and sweet. Because the characters were so young, the stakes for their problems were really low, which was refreshing.

As cute and entertaining as the story was, I had a problem with the way most of the characters were written. The way the writer made the main character, Mitch, speak along with his other cousins really bothered me. Especially Claire, she felt like a characterization of how a middle-aged person thinks a millennial would talk. She said things that people that age NEVER actually say in real life. She said things like: "perf", "totes", "amazeballs", "adorbes", "SMH" instead of actually shaking her head. Ugh, it was soooooo annoying. While some characters didn't speak/act their age, some characters were written extremely age-appropriate (i.e.: Josh, Connor, and Lauren). I also had to suspend A LOT of disbelief during the heist and "recon mission" of the story.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was its pacing. It didn't feel too long or short, so something interesting was always frequently happening.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I just had to suspend my disbelief A LOT with certain plot points and with how certain characters , ahem--Claire, were written.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute middle grade story

A fun story about a lot more than stealing back Christmas. A group of cousins get in trouble on Thanksgiving day and lose their Christmas presents. The story really starts when the kids decide to steal back their presents. What they learn along the way turns out to be more valuable than presents.