Book one of Trevor Made Christmas Stories
Middle-Grade Fantasy
Date Published: 09-27-2022
The house is shaking, colors are sparkling, things are starting to break…
and did that toy start moving?
Thirteen-year-old Marley is convinced that Christmas is just for little
kids and that magic doesn’t exist, but when she and her siblings
tiptoe downstairs in the middle of the night to take a sneak peek at their
stockings, she’s about to discover that magic is more real than she
ever imagined…
When the children’s toys start coming to life, Marley will need to
think fast if she’s to protect her siblings from rampaging dinosaurs
and wild monkeys. The fate of them all depends on whether she can find the
right kind of magic.
This thrilling and heartwarming adventure is a beautiful tale of a big
sister who has forgotten the joys of Christmas.
Excerpt
ONE
How It All Began
The rush to finish school projects. The cold. The stress of having to buy her friends cool Christmas presents then having to say goodbye. Really long car journeys with her brother and sister.
What was there to like about Christmas?
Christmas was for little children. Even grownups only kept up the farce for the little ones, but that shouldn’t mean you still had to pretend it was the most magical time of the year when you turned thirteen.
How could it even feel like Christmas anyway when Rowan sat with fingers in his ears, elbows accidentally getting right into Marley’s face after every curve, and let’s face it, there wasn’t a single straight road in Pennsylvania.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Izabelle decided she was the only one allowed to sing and nobody else could copy her, so they had to keep quiet and listen to the lyrics and melodies she patched together from totally unrelated songs.
What was the point? Marley slouched against the inside of the car door, which jammed into her left ear. It hurt, but she couldn’t be bothered to move. At least it felt like something.
She looked at her phone. Not a great idea. All that did was remind her of the Christmas party she was missing.
Great.
Sam and Helen were friends again. At least Marley hadn’t been totally invisible while they’d not been speaking to each other.
They’d all have the best time ever. Nobody would even notice that Marley wasn’t there, that she was stuck spending the holiday with her little brother and sister. A nine and a three-and-a-half-year-old.
Oh, and two old people. Not that Nana and Popa were old and cranky like some of her friends’ grandparents, but they were still ancient and she wasn’t in the mood to think nice thoughts about anyone right now.
About the Author
Christmas has always been Hilary Hauck’s favorite time of year.
Growing up in the United Kingdom, Christmas meant family gatherings, turkey
and stuffing, crackers, mince pies, charades, and the Queen’s speech
in the afternoon.
According to Hilary, every child should have magic in their life, and
stories enlighten us with the endless ways magic is all around. Why did she
write this story about the wrong kind of magic? Well, because sometimes we
need to feel the wrong kind of something before we know what the right kind
looks and feels like.
Hilary is also the author of From Ashes to Song, inspired the true story of
three Italians who immigrated to Pennsylvania ninety years before she did.
She has written short stories for Like Sunshine After Rain and anthologies
in the Mindful Writers Retreat Series.
She grew up in the UK and has also lived in Italy. She lives on a small
patch of woods in rural Pennsylvania with her husband and a cat with a
penchant for laundry. Visit her at www.hilaryhauck.com.
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