It is the combination of illustrations and magical Christmas story that makes this book One Christmas Wish a must read for children. It is an intriguing story of a little boy named Theodore and four mischievous tree decorations that come to life after the boy wishes on a shooting star that he sees across the sky from his window. He wishes to have company on Christmas Eve and not be alone.

The old decorations – a tin soldier, a rocking horse, a robin and an angel – come to the rescue. It is interesting to read Theo’s adventures with these decorations that are now magically alive. One particular decoration, the rocking horse, keeps eating everything that’s on its way so that it can grow bigger and give Theo a ride. It’s cute and funny.

Theo is the only child of parents with busy working lives. Before Christmas we find Theo unpacking old decorations. We see a bare tree whose lights don’t work. For little Theo it appears there are no turkey or blinking lights or presents.

In fact, reading this book should be a joint activity between parent and child. The book narrates a magical Christmas adventure. Along with that this book is a good reminder to modern day parent that holidays still hold good old traditional charm and expectations. Children need to connect to traditions not just to have fun, but also to feel the togetherness.

We also discover that Theo is left in charge of a babysitter who has fallen asleep on her mobile phone.

Although in the end his parents do surprise Theo and shower him with plenty of gifts on Christmas morning.

Katherine Rundell’s (the author) story is a gentle reminder to parents that children need their presence more than anything during celebrations. Also that any festival always feels right when somehow they are celebrated in traditional way like decorations and turkey. It is what connects children to their culture and tradition. It is a bonding time with parents too. In the end, Theo gets what he wants, a special surprise Christmas celebration with parents and he is not ‘un-alone’.

The illustrations in this book are by Emily Sutton.

The book is a good reminder to both parents and children what celebrations or festivals should be about. It should be about togetherness.