LETTERS FROM FATHER CHRISTMAS

Don't miss this little gem amidst all the fanfare of Tolkien's novels and Hollywood film. Each year, starting in the early 1920s Tolkien responded to his children's letters to Father Christmas with notes and drawings. He introduces the chores of packing the many packages, the mishaps of weather and the mischief of his faithful helper, North Polar Bear, to his sons and daughter--whose names are added or omitted from the letters as the family grows. Derek Jacobi is fully in the spirit of these epistles, and listeners hear how Tolkien, also, elaborates with one year's letters, and can only send a few lines and a drawing the next. The one missed step is the annoying choice of just one music selection which separates the letters. Nevertheless, make this audio program a holiday tradition. R.F.W. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/ JAN 02]