Back to Christmas
By: Dennis Canfield / Narrated By: Simon Vance
Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
Such a fun little book about love, family, the true Christmas spirit
I have both versions of Back to Christmas, read by Ralph Lister, and read by Simon Vance, and I gotta say that I lean towards to Vance version. Yeah, yeah, yeah: He’s one of my favorite narrators of all time, and yeah, yeah, yeah, he, like Lister, kinda sorta falters on a few of the American accents of the main characters, but he does Repo, the aging heavy metal rock star who lives next to the doomed Krumwerth family, with a nice, thick Scottish brogue. Very fun. Plus, the Vance version ends with a tricky little Christmas rap song as sung by each character, and ol’ Simon switches from character voice to character voice with nary a misstep. The Lister version has no rap song, so boo for that one and yay for the new release.
Back to Christmas finds us with Marmel, the crotchety elf, head of the Labeling Department (they weed the naughty from the nice), yelling at his crew that nobody has been put on the Naughty List, not even the Krumwerths, who have made the Naughty List two years running. This year, if they make the List again, well, the North Pole has a Three Strikes, You’re Out rule: If they make it again, they’ll be on the Permanent Naughty List, doomed to hate Christmas for the rest of their days on the planet. And only Marmel seems to see how important it is to have people banned forever. Why, he’s so crotchety about the whole thing, he’s in danger of losing his Christmas spirit, a fate worse than death for an elf and one that has dire consequences. Forever!
Marmel visits the self-absorbed 12-year old Amanda Krumwerth to warn her of their fate. If the family can’t do three acts by sundown Christmas Day: Boom! They’re done. Forever. But they’ll have Santa’s little brother, Reverse Santa trying to help them, by taking things away, rather than by giving things. Technology will NOT work for the Krumwerth family, and crud hits the fan. The Krumwerths must pull together or be damned.
There are penguins magically zooming along, pulling RC’s (Reverse Santa’s) rusty old truck from the South Pole; there are several tech blackouts; there’s the curmudgeonly Marmel rooting for them to fail, but there’s Amanda pulling for her family, desperately trying to bring the Christmas spirit back to life within their hearts, within their home. As shallow as she is, she’s even more big-hearted, even more determined to find their way back to Christmas even more than she wants to get Likes for her new YouTube hairdo video. But she’s got two short-tempered parents to deal with, and one grouchy little brother.
Simon Vance really has fun with this audiobook, and he makes all the difference. This is a fun book, and you’ll find yourself rooting for Amanda, RC, and even Marmel who starts realizing that NO! He really IS one. step. away. from being cast out of the North Pole.
It’ll bring a smile to your face, and a sweet little warmth to your heart when you see the family, who was really quite sharp and easily distracted, come together, finding true warmth and even best wishes for those they’d really like to throttle.
And who will become Elf of the Year? Or who will become only the second elf to lose his Christmas spirit? Back to Christmas will let you know in just 2+ hours of really pleasant listening time!
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