Scott, Kieran. Jingle Boy.SCOTT, Kieran. Jingle boy. Random House, Laurel-Leaf. 230p. c2003. 0-440-23831-5. $5.99. JS To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, September 2003: Everyone loves Christmas, but no one more than Paul Nicholas Paul Nicholas (born Paul Oscar Beuselinck, 3 December 1945 in Peterborough, England) is an English actor and singer who has had considerable success on stage, screen and in the pop charts. Nicholas's father Oscar Beuselinck was a music business lawyer. , whose family has more holiday traditions "than an elf has pairs of pointy point·y adj. point·i·er, point·i·est Having an end tapering to a point. earmuffs Earmuffs are objects designed to cover a person's ears for protection. They consist of a thermoplastic or metal head-band, that fits over the top of the head, and a pad at each end, to cover the external ears. ." Their light display is the most elaborate; their devotion to Christmas TV specials and corny corn·y adj. corn·i·er, corn·i·est Trite, dated, melodramatic, or mawkishly sentimental. [From corn1. Christmas music is unshakeable. And Paul's personal tradition? Always getting everything he asks for, which this Christmas will be a Jeep that has his just-about-perfect girlfriend Sarah as excited as Paul. Everything is set for a great Christmas ... until Paul loses his lucky Santa hat. And his father is electrocuted while putting out the Christmas lights. And his mother loses her job. And Paul has to work as Santa's helper to a scraggly scrag·gly adj. scrag·gli·er, scrag·gli·est Ragged; unkempt. Adj. 1. scraggly - lacking neatness or order; "the old man's scraggly beard"; "a scraggly little path to the door" rap artist wannabe named Scooby, who has also just stolen his girlfriend. Convinced that Christmas has become a curse, Paul and his best friend Holly join the Anti-Christmas Underground whose mission is to eradicate the Christmas spirit. Bent on Adj. 1. bent on - fixed in your purpose; "bent on going to the theater"; "dead set against intervening"; "out to win every event" bent, dead set, out to destroying Scooby and reclaiming Sarah, Paul and the gang plan anti-Christmas attacks that ultimately backfire. It takes a visit from Santa before Paul realizes that all is not lost, and the real spirit of Christmas can't be destroyed. Kiernan incorporates almost every popculture Christmas icon into his story in one way or another, and constructs his own tongue-in-cheek version of a feel-good Christmas special. Silly and full of slap stick, this could end up on the big screen as an antidote to the usual Christmas madness. Michele Winship, Asst. Prof., Capital Univ., Columbus, OH |
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