A wonderful environmental allegory for children of all ages.

I’m very excited to announce another wonderful review for my latest book: The March of the Toymakers! Head on over to Mungai and the Goa Constrictor for other great children’s books, reviews, and information about wildlife and endangered species. It’s a blog with a great cause! Here is the review:

Santa’s workshop, far away at the North Pole, is suffering from a severe shortage of elves.  With the start of the New Year preparations for the following Christmas getting dangerously close to being underway, Santa is beginning to panic.  Now, as anyone knows, this is entirely the wrong time of year for such a dearth.  Toys need making for all the children in the world to open and enjoy at Christmas next, and without sufficient toy makers there will not be enough toys to go round.  The burden is placed upon Chief Toymaker, Nissa, to solve the problem.

Armed only with some lines of enigmatic verse and a magic sword, and accompanied by his favourite reindeer, Rudolph, Nissa gathers his chosen companions as they ready to embark on their quest to find the Fair Feather Maid.   She is the only one who can  provide the much-needed extra workforce.  Forewarned of the journey’s dangers, the elves set out aware that to save Christmas, not only must they overcome these perils, but, they must meet Santa’s deadline and be back at the North Pole by Midsummer’s Eve.  The fierce opposition, however, is clearly determined not to let them do this.

The March of the Toymakers is an action-filled adventure story involving a whole cornucopia of evil, fabled creatures such as ugly trolls, wailing banshees and gruesome ogres.  Throw in a few secret gates, scary forests and long, blood-curdling battles, and you have the ideal adventure story for children.

This is a very enjoyable book which I would have no hesitation in recommending.  The plot is tight, well-written and contains just enough ‘scare’ to keep children interested without frightening them too much.  This is a perfect Christmas book, but, I wouldn’t describe it as just a book for Christmas.  Although it does focus on the spirit of Christmas giving, and Santa does feature at the beginning and end, it stands up on its own as a tale which can be read at any time of year.

The characters are well-developed and on the whole likeable.  The descriptions of the mythological creatures are clever – not too long, just enough to get the right mental image.  The scenes are depicted in a creative manner, and there is plenty of action, too.

In all, a delightful little fairy tale and lots fun. (5 stars)
The March of the Toymakers would be best suited to ages 5 years and upwards

The March of the Toymakers can be purchased for under $10 and is available in paperback or as an ebook.

Order here or Amazon or Barnes & Noble, also:

Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon India, and other international Amazon stores.