The Christmas Competition

Christmas Carrolls #2

by Mel Taylor-Bessent, Selom Sunu (Illustrator)

‘A Christmas book about kindness and cheer to make even Scrooge’s heart melt’ Dame Jacqueline Wilson on The Christmas Carrolls

Funny festive middle grade about the world's most Christmassy family from the founder of Authorfy, perfect for 8+ fans of Matt Haig, Ben Miller, Sibeal Pounder’s Tinsel and the Nativity! films

The Christmas-crazy Carrolls are back – and this time, they have an ice-skating baby penguin!

There’s a new family in town determined to steal the Carrolls’ tinselly crown. Can Holly and her family win the Christmas Chronicle’s competition for the Most Festive Family? Or will they discover that there is more to life than perfect Christmas decorations, a personal toboggan run, and more pressies than you can shake a candy cane at?

Genres: Christmas, Middle Grade, Childrens, Fiction, Audiobook

287 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 13, 2022

About the author

Founder of the hugely successful Authorfy and Little Star Writing, Mel Taylor-Bessent has made her career connecting readers to their favourite authors and encouraging children to write for pleasure. After gaining a Creative Writing degree, Mel launched her first business at the age of 22 and ran creative writing workshops for thousands of children aged 6-12. As a result, she also arranged hundreds of author events and witnessed first-hand the positive impact these interactions had on her students.

In 2017, she decided to replicate this via online ‘Author Masterclasses’ on a website she created called Authorfy.com. Since then, Authorfy has gone on to win numerous awards, partner with the likes of World Book Day and BookTrust, and is used in classrooms all over the world. Now Mel is bringing her own writing to readers with The Christmas Carrolls, her debut fiction series.

Reviews

[Marloes | Subtlebookish · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

[Belles Middle Grade Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This really is just the most charming, heartwarming series. I love this family so much, as well as Reggie & Archer. This one involves a Christmas competition, & I loved how subtly packed full of messages this one was. The importance of family & memories over presents & money spent & appearances. Even the pressure families can put on their children to have them do what they enjoy..like that means the kids must enjoy it as well-above all else. And so much more. The most lovable characters ever. My heart about bursts from the love I feel for them each book so far lol. I also never thought I could love a donkey soooooo much, or feel so PROUD of one like I did at a certain part in here. My heart will always belong to Reggie, but now certain character named Sue shares my heart with him. Lol. These are full of Christmas cheer, friendship, family, humor, & so much heart. HIGHLY recommend. BEAUTIFUL cover & full of BEAUTIFUL illustrations throughout by Selom Sunu too.💜

[Between The Pages (Gemma M) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved book one of this, I would recommend reading these in order as does refer to the previous book and gives a good background into this family and characters. It is illustrated throughout, a perfect children christmas read. Funny. Christmassy. Festive. It is a competition for who has the best christmas, so ofcourse the Carrolls are in with a chance of winning but with Holly getting older and wanting to celebrate Halloween this year do they have a chance to win? The competiton is mega and the other family is quite rude and very different from the Carrolls as they have their own Christmas village. It's a race against time who will win? Parts had me laughing away, perfect for all children (and big kids like me). Highly recommend. A well deserved four stars from me. Did I also mention? This book has the most adorable little penguin who likes to escape, so it's a must buy from me.

[Rosanna Threakall · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mel Taylor-Bessent’s 2022 follow-up to The Christmas Carrolls (2021) looks beautiful—from its two-layer cover with die-cut window that shows the artwork underneath, to its green-edged pages decorated with vibrant Christmas baubles. We got a signed copy, too!

The story inside, as well, isn’t bad. Not as good as the first book, tho, which was about a family that celebrates Christmas every day of the year. It reminded me of the Disney short, Donald Duck: Stuck on Christmas (1999), which takes the popular idea of wishing it was Christmas every day to its logical conclusion.

This one's about a contest between that same—mental—family (the Carrolls) and another—awful—family to be the 'most festive family’.

And of course, along the way, we discover that being the 'most festive' isn’t about extravagant decorations or outdoing others—it’s about love, kindness, and togetherness. A truly irresponsible moral to teach the kids. And what role models! The two main characters in this story are so absolutely, deeply, uniformly nice that it’s sickening—if any kid is this nice they deserve serious reprimanding and/or therapy.

There’s a third book out now, I think…

[N.L. McFarlane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book number two in the series and my goodness did it completely top the first story. Just when you thought Christmas couldn't get any bigger with the Carrolls.... it booms into this huge competition between the two most Christmassy families creating an all out festive sprint. I can think of no better way to teach the importance of people and memories as oppose to presents than by reading this book. The storyline, the hidden messages, the characters including the cutest little penguin are all just so incredible.... even if some characters were very much hard to like at times. I cannot wait for book number 3 and if you want to get into the festive spirit I highly recommend this read.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up because of the little penguin!!!

I liked this more than the first book in the series because of the adorable little penguin. I still am not a fan of the made up words or the overabundance of fart/poop jokes, but the art is adorable and this book had a nice message. It’s on the young end of Middle Grade since the MC is only 8, and I think I would have definitely liked it more if she had been a bit older. Still a cute read.

[Dreximgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was entertaining but all the adults really were awful as were some of the kids. I really felt for Holly at quite a few points in this book. Honestly the animals are the most fun, a donkey who thinks its a reindeer who I loved in book 1 is back and the main penguin was adorable.

[Abi_disney_00 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these stories. So festive, family friendly and just feel good mayhem. So excited for the next instalment.

[Emma Lofthouse-Burch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun follow up to the first book.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully original and festive. A great follow up.

[Guillermo Andrade Uribe · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[BookBairn · Rating 4 out of 5]

What great fun to be back with the Carroll family and all their festive spirit. There were lots of things I thoroughly enjoyed about this as the family went into Christmas overdrive preparing for the big competition. I particularly like the scene where Holly and her dad had a real heart to heart.
At first I found the Claus family to be a bit one-dimensional in that the seemed to be the baddies because they were rich and their Christmas world was bigger and better but with less heart as a result. I don’t particularly like stories where the baddies are baddies because they are rich. So I was hesitant to see how it unfolded. However, the characters grew in depth as the story went on and by the end I quite enjoyed seeing how their relationship with Holly changed as well as their relationships with each other. So what turned out to be something I initially disliked turned into something I really enjoyed!
I did have one bug bear - there was an awful lot of fart jokes. Which I get children love. But this book was so funny anyway I didn’t feel it needed them!