Christmas Night,1776 – Book Review

Title: Christmas Night, 1776

Series: The Kairos Makers (Book 1)

Author: C. A Gray

Publishers: Wanderlust Publishing

Format: ebook

Pages: 54

Genres: Historical, Middle Grade, Children’s, Adventure, Fantasy

Rating: 4/5

Goodreads

Release Date: 4th May 2020

Where To Buy: Amazon UK, Amazon USA

Summary: Three young apprentices to a time-traveling magician make sure history is as it should be! Ten year old Gabriel Jordan always wanted to be a magician. He just isn’t very good at it. His godmother writes to a mysterious traveling magician named Thrylos and begs him to visit Gabe, just to encourage him. To her surprise and Gabe’s, Thrylos does so—only it turns out that Thrylos doesn’t just do “magic tricks.” He’s a real time-traveling magician, and he travels throughout history to various critical, kairos moments in time to make sure they happen the way they should. But he can’t do it alone. Gabe asks if he can bring his adopted little sister Elizabeth and his bookish friend Marty as apprentices too, and Thrylos agrees.

Together, the three kids travel to Christmas Night, 1776: the pivotal night of the American Revolutionary War. Whether or not America ever becomes a nation hinges on General George Washington’s decision that night, when it seems like everything has gone wrong. Can Gabe, Elizabeth, and Marty convince General Washington to press on in the face of incredible odds? The fate of the future United States of America hangs in the balance!

Thank you so much to BookSirens and C.A. Gray for the e-arc copy to read and review.

Review: This book was so much fun, it was filled with so much adventure. What a creative book to get children reading more historical books. I love that Thrylos the Magician gave Gabe and his best friends this fun adventure and that they had to figure it out on their own once there it really added a whole new element to the story.

The characters worked well together with each of them having such different personalities, they all bounced off each other and helped during their mission to ensure it worked out how it had too. I also liked how Marty was a non magic believer but yet found himself intrigued at what could happen.

I love how we go back to that crucial battle in American history when all could have been lost or given up on and Washington could have called defeat. Then with this story the children are there to help ensure he continues. I really loved reading the way the soldiers reacted to the kids.

This is a worthwhile book for kids of most ages, it’s a really fun adventure, features time travel, teaches a wonderful part of history in a way that makes it exciting for children. This would be a great book to read with your kids in particular if you are learning about this era of history. It would also be great to add into a history curriculum for teachers, children would really enjoy this. I highly recommend you giving this a read.

The book also features a really wonderful historical fact section at the end which is my favourite part of any children’s historical book series as that extra part of learning is vital and so educational.

About Author: C.A. Gray is the author of three YA bestselling trilogies: PIERCING THE VEIL (magic and quantum physics meet Arthurian legends), THE LIBERTY BOX (dystopian metaphysics and mind control technology), and UNCANNY VALLEY (dystopian coming-of-age with neuroscience and super intelligent A.I), as well as DREAMSCAPE ADVENTURES, INC and THE ATLANTIS BLOODLINE. By day, she practices naturopathic medicine, podcasts, and writes medical non-fiction under her maiden name (Lauren Deville). She lives in Tucson, AZ with her husband Frank, and together they maintain an occasionally contentious film review blog (under her real name: Lauren Baden. Three names. Yes.) In her spare time, she creates whatever meals or crafts she found most recently on Pinterest, drinks lots of coffee and occasional wine, works out (while listening to audiobooks), and studies the Bible (about half of the podcasts on Christian Natural Health are scripture meditations). 

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