The Best Christmas Present in the World

Michael Morpurgo

Michael Foreman

Egmont, 2004

9781405215183

In a junk shop in Bridport is an old roll-top desk, something the narrator has always wanted.  So he buys it and on Christmas Eve while his home resonates with the voices of over-excited relatives he begins the restoration project.  It really was in bad shape with both fire and water having taken its toll, but he persists in the preparation, forcing the final drawer open.  And in the banging of a fist, his life changes for the drawer contains a small black tin and within the tin is a letter.

This book is dedicated to “all those on both sides who took part in the Christmas truce of  1914” and this gives some indication of the contents of the letter.  Written and published for the 90th anniversary of the truce, it is even more poignant as its centenary is commemorated  Based on a true event, it is a heart-warming story of not only the truce but also the narrator’s determination to return the letter to its recipient and what happens when he finds her.

With such a focus on World War 1 this year, The Best Christmas Present in the World would be the perfect way to wrap it up and show the children that even in the most dire circumstances there is hope and humanity in the world.