The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder

I was doing so well with my one-book-a-week reading plan until April this year.  Somewhere along the way, this got deprioritized.  I just managed to finish my 17th book for the year - The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder.

For a Gaarder book, this was an easy read.  It tells the story of Joachim, a young Norwegian boy, and a mysterious and very old hand-made Advent calender.  Advent calendars are opened every day starting December 1, leading up to Christmas Day.  (I would like to start this tradition in my family).  Anyway, the calendar that Joachim got had folded notes for each day.  They tell the story of a young girl named Elisabet who was traveling back in time to Bethlehem to the day that Jesus was born.  Her journey started when she followed a sheep.  She was then joined by an angel, more sheep, shepherds, more angels, the 3 wise men and kings.

The mystery in the story is that a girl, also named Elisabet, disappeared in 1948.  As Joachim and his parents read about Elisabet in the calendar, they also investigated on the missing Elisabet.  They met the calendar-maker, John, and heard his story about meeting a real person named Elisabet.  The mystery is revealed in the end when they all met, but like the other Gaarder books, not really... :)

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