Celebrate the Season: The Twelve Pets of Christmas

Celebrate the Season #2

by Taylor Garland

Celebrate the true spirit of giving....
This Christmas, Quinn Cooper is combining the two things she loves the most, painting and animals, by making ornaments to raise money for her local pet shelter's "12 Pets of Christmas" drive. The goal of the drive is to find forever homes for twelve cats and dogs before Christmas. With half the proceeds from her ornaments going to the shelter, Quinn plans to use the rest of the money she raises to buy a plane ticket to visit her best friend, who moved away last summer. As Christmas draws closer, the adopt-a-thon is going great... but Quinn's favorite dog at the shelter, Buddy, is proving especially hard to place. Quinn finds the perfect home for the dog, but the family can't afford to take on the financial responsibility of adopting him. Will the magic of Christmas help make sure that Quinn-and all the pets-have a very merry Christmas?
©2017 Hachette Book Group. All rights reserved.

Genres: Christmas, Middle Grade

176 pages, Hardcover

Published October 10, 2017

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this for my 9-year-old niece for Christmas. I’ve found it hard to find novels that would be a good fit for her. They tend to be categorized as 6-8 which are usually targeted at younger readers making them too easy. Or they’re 9-12 and too mature or dark, dealing with conflicts like romance, friends turning on you, or death. However, this book seemed promising. I try to read all the books before I give them to her, and was impressed by this one. It deals with generosity and friendship, and while there are conflicts, all of the characters are kind and good people. The protagonist, Quinn, exemplifies this, is generally upbeat, and loves animals and creating art, like my niece. Quinn has more independence than my niece does, but I remember when I was young I always liked reading about characters who were slightly older, to discover what that would be like.

Seventh-grader Quinn volunteers at her local animal shelter, where they’ve launched a campaign to feature twelve animals to adopt before Christmas. She paints 12 ornaments with dogs and cats for the auction at their launch event, and soon is getting flooded with custom order requests. Her plan is to donate half her profits to the shelter, and save the other half to buy a plane ticket to visit her best friend who moved away. As the story progresses, the animals start finding homes, but one dog is never chosen; Buddy, has been at the shelter longest and is becoming depressed. Quinn really wants to find him a forever home, though she also recognizes that can’t be forced.

The resolution became fairly evident about halfway through to me, but it didn’t play out quite how I expected and I like what the author did. This has the heartwarming feel of a Hallmark movie, but for pre-teens. I know my niece is currently a reluctant reader, but I’m hoping this one will inspire her to read. I really enjoyed it myself, the writing was stronger than I anticipated and challenging words and concepts are explained for young readers in a natural way. Overall, it is just what I was looking for.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute little middle grade read. The author did a good job reflecting the age of the character. It was a tad juvenile in spots, but that was to be expected.

The inner workings of an animal shelter is downright depressing.

[Books Lucy King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing Christmas story! It was so sweet, so heart-warming, it woke up the Christmas spirit in me. The pets, Quinn and her ornaments, all the people adopting and their little stories. It even made me cry at the end of emotion and joy. I dont cry when I read, I just dont, sad or happy tears, I dont cry while reading. So this means something that it made me cry, the emotion was so strong and hearwarming :)
I was a bit afraid of reading this book as I lost my dog couple of months ago, I am still heartbroken because of this and I felt like it would not be a good idea to read about pets, that it would make me sad. But I gave it a go, I dont even know why and it was perfect. I made me feel so good, so happy and hopefull and it convinced me even more I want to adopt a pet hopefully the next year :) There are so many animals waiting for their foreverhome and if I can give a home to some of them, I will. It is so worth it.
If you love pets, Christmas, heartwarming stories, this is a must! :)

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. This was such a cute book about a girl who loves art and animals. She volunteers at an animal shelter that is doing a 12 pets of Christmas adoption drive where fees are reduced for 12 animals. She really wants them all to get adopted, but a dog named Buddy is her main priority. Theres a little boy who loves him but can't afford him. She is an artist who is making custom pet ornaments and she's made a good amount of money. She plans to use it to go see her best friend who moved, but she uses it to fund Buddy's adoption in the end. This is super wholesome and sweet and inspiring for helping others and entrepreneurship. Loved it!

[Grey853 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick, uplifting story about Quinn who works at an animal shelter at Christmas. I enjoyed the part about how close she is to one dog in particular, Buddy, and how she works hardest to find him a home before Christmas. I could see how this could easily be considered overly sentimental, but I didn't mind that. I prefer that to something dire and dark this time of year.

This is probably more suited for a young reader such as a teen, but I didn't mind that, either.

[Kira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truyện cuốn hút và giàu ý nghĩa, mặc dù cái kết hơi bị ảo.

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[Grace Mc · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Twelve Pets of Christmas is a cheesy yet heart-warming middle grade novel, which I read with my 7-year old over the Christmas holidays. This is a kids book that really is just for kids so I was a bit bored reading it, but my daughter liked it. One major plus for the book is that the ending is well-done and I didn't see the resolution coming. I was pleasantly surprised by how it all ends up.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet heartwarming story of miracles during the Christmas season. Read to the kids.

[Ashlee Jontz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute.

[Theresa Lange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cute kids book!!

[Kaydance Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute story, and great ending

[Rabab Boulaich · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a joy…! The pets got each a home…! A lovely story…!

[Baley Petersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cute. My 11 year old self would have loved this story.

[Shaylynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book more than 5 times and I really like it because I love animals and I also love Christmas (not as much as Halloween :)