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Letters from Father Christmas  By  cover art

Letters from Father Christmas

By: J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Derek Jacobi, John Moffatt, Christian Rodska
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Publisher's summary

Can you imagine writing to Father Christmas and actually getting a reply?

Every year, the children of J.R.R. Tolkien would write to Father Christmas, and the letters they received told wonderful stories of his adventures at the North Pole.

These humorous tales are brought to life by Derek Jacobi as Father Christmas, John Moffatt as Polar Bear, and Christian Rodska as Ilbereth the Elf, complete with specially composed music.

©1997, 200 4 (P)1997 HarperCollins UK

Featured Article: Galadriel—A Lord of the Rings Character Guide


Galadriel is one of the most significant characters both in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and the wide history of Middle-earth more generally. If you've listened to The Lord of the Rings or seen any of the film adaptations, then you're likely well aware of who Galadriel is. But what, exactly, makes her so important? What is her history? This character guide is here to answer all of your questions about the powerful Elf Galadriel, the Lady of Lórien.

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What listeners say about Letters from Father Christmas

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A fun little read.

What made the experience of listening to Letters from Father Christmas the most enjoyable?

The humour and wonderful narration made this a great listen.

What does Derek Jacobi bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Derek Jacobi read with tongue in cheek and in great humour and the listening experience was very enjoyable.

Any additional comments?

A few letters written to Tolkien's daughter Priscilla were left out of the audiobook edition from about 1937 to 1943 I think. These are included in the Ebook edition with wonderful illustrations from J.R.R. Tolkien.

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62 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Kill the music!!

I would love this, were it not for the INCREDIBLY ANNOYING MUSIC! The producers took what could have been a first-rate audiobook and cheapened it with extremely poor interlude music that even plays over the narrations.... a great pity! The music is presumably there to please children, but my child asked, “Why do they keep playing that silly ‘tick-tocky’ song?!” Boo.....

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61 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Narration & Letters Good, Music at a Louder Volume

Long, loud music between letters marr an otherwise adorable work.

The narrarion is great and I want to hear more of the North Polar Bear's adventures.

BUT: The publishers decided to add long sections of Christmas music between each letter and all the bells and drums end up jarring.The sound isn't balanced, either, so I kept turning the volume up for Father Christmas and way down for the music.

Pity.

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52 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fun Listen!

Wish there were more letters to this British family. The stories could go on. I love having a new slant (for me) on Santa and the North Pole and their problems. Love the letter sign offs too! "Love from your Father Christmas".

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

amazing idea for Christmas

A much better idea than the elf on the shelf. As I listened to the story I was thinking of the possibility of doing this with my future little ones

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Heart warming letters from a creative father.


This book is less a book and more of a collection of letters from "Father Christmas" and his silly companions to the children of the famous author J.R.R. Tolkien. The level of creativity is heart warming as the letters relate the yearly adventures of Father Christmas and his helpers as they prepare to make their great gift deliveries, most notably the clumsy and lovable North Polar Bear.

The narration was also absolutely terrific, it's hard to imagine anyone could have done better. Hats off to Derek Jacobi, John Moffatt, and Christian Rodska for bringing these fun little characters to life and putting a smile on the faces of listeners everywhere.

This audiobook is recommended to listeners who enjoy a bit of imagination blended into their Christmas holiday and want something shorter than two hours in length. This audio experience is just as much silly fun for the older as it is for the younger. Who knows? It might even inspire some parents to add a little spice to Christmas mornings, themselves.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Magical Christmas Tale by the best

Heartwarming Christmas Tale surrounding Father Christmas's letters to J.R.R. Tolkien's children every year at Christmas time. They were a delight to read and I can see this becoming a new holiday tradition to listen to every Christmas Eve with new little ones in my life.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Wonderfully charming

Funny, charming letters from Father Christmas written by Tolkien to his children, in reply to their letters. With dates from 1920-1943, many contain wonderful little stories that are so very creative and sweetly innocent. They offer a lovely snapshot of family life and what Tolkien was like as a father. He gets big points from me for focusing on his youngest after the start of WW2; he had to have been worried about his oldest boys, who were 22 and 19 in 1939.

The narration is great - love Jacobi specifically. His phrasing, pacing and voice are spot on perfect. 5 stars

The music slipped over the line into annoying at times, but stayed this side enough to refrain from describing it as hysterical or demented. Please note: I DO like music in productions - when it’s a *complementary* sound that works with the period and mood of the writing, and doesn’t run over the words. 2 stars
That was the only part that could have been done better - and why I couldn’t rate this 5 stars across the board.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Felt the Christmas Magic

The performance was spectacular.
I truly felt as if Santa and the other characters were alive. Smiled through the whole thing it's worth the listen.

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7 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful and Magical

My children and o absolutely loved this. It was so special listening together. The last letter when all the children had grown was 😭.

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5 people found this helpful