Published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2024.

Imagine a world where it’s Christmas every day. Sound too good to be true? Well, it appears that it is. Sprouts is set in a future world where it’s always Christmas and it turns out that 24/7 Christmas – governed by a tyrannical Santa – isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Everyone must follow strict rules about eating sprouts and candy canes; decorating their tree every day; only wearing festive attire and only ever playing Christmas-themed games. It’s a ‘Big Brother’ future where the terrifying Krampuses watch over people’s every move and punish them any time they break the Krampus Code. Never have the words to Santa Claus is Coming to Town sounded so sinister:

“[They] know when you are sleeping,
[They] know when you’re awake,
[They] know if you’ve been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake.”

The only place free of this permanent Christmas is the Mince Pie Isles where a group of rebel witches have been banished, illegally celebrating Christmas just once a year. Gryla Garland, a hapless and accident-prone young witch, is unexpectedly chosen as the next guardian of the witches’ powerful spell book. Almost immediately after receiving the book, she’s kidnapped by Merrliee (Santa’s daughter) and whisked over to Humbug, capital of Christmas. Can the two of them work out how to restore Christmas to what it once was?

This is a warm and wonderful festive story about standing up for what you believe in. There are also important messages about prejudice and the destructive power of rumour and propaganda. The world beyond the Mince Pie Isles has preconceived and unfounded beliefs about witches, which nobody ever thinks to question. And then there’s the powerful representation of females and my favourite line in the whole book:

“You must never forget, there are two types of tales about girls throughout history. The ones in which girls are forgotten, and the ones in which girls are monsters.”

Children are going to love the descriptions of this Christmas-themed world: gingerbread buildings, bauble houses, holographic elves and aerial highways for the sleighs. Sprouts is a fun-filled festive adventure with the very welcome addition of a talking tinselcat. Just be thankful you don’t have to survive on sprout-flavoured candy canes!

Rating: 💙💙💙💙

Suitable for children aged 8+

Thank you to Bloomsbury Children’s Books for sending me this book to review. I reviewed it as part of the Sprouts blog tour. Check out all the other posts on the tour for more exclusive content.