Benjamin P. Blizzard Welcome to Christmastown by Karen Lynne Nivens    Books by Karen Lynne Nivens · Benjamin P. Blizzard: Welcome to Christmastown                 >> View all
Category:	Children	Publisher:	Living Waters Publishing	ISBN-10:	097981541X
		Copyright:	2007	ISBN-13:	9780979815416

My publisher's description is: "Come meet Benjamin Blizzard, Benny for short. He is a 5 year old polar bear cub who has a case of the clumsies. He is curious and fun-loving like any 5 year old. Unfortunately for the elves, Benny has a hard time when it comes to dealing with small things. He makes a wonderful mess of the toyshop right before Christmas Eve delivery, but learns a great lesson in the midst of it all... that even our mistakes can be beautiful." Buy your copy! Amazon.com Barnes and Nobles I hope you will consider reading my recently released children’s book, "Benjamin P. Blizzard: Welcome to Christmastown". It is for all ages. My goal with "Benjamin P. Blizzard" was to create a story of encouragement for kids as well as adults because sometimes we adults forget about the child in us.  I try to show that different is good, beauty can be found everywhere, it just depends on how you look at things, and sometimes great things come out of what we originally viewed as a mess.  I write about a polar bear cub learning what he is good at doing while living at the North Pole. To paraphrase myself, Benny learns that while he does not have the nimble fingers of an elf to make small toys, he is great at filling the toy bags and loading them on Santa’s sleigh.  The story takes you through a minor toy room disaster on Christmas Eve to special children receiving wonderous toys because of the mishap.  Hopefully you will find "Benjamin P. Blizzard, Welcome to Christmastown" is fun to read as a family or on your own. Best Regards, Karen Nivens       Excerpt "Benny’s curiosity soon got the best of him, as he was so full of excitement over all the elfin activity. “What was that elf painting off to the left?” he wondered… then, “Oh my, what a beautiful shade of pink for a doll house!” And to his right, “What was that sound?” It was a small but delightful jet black train tooting its whistle, CHOO-CHOO! “What a wonderful sound!” Benny thought, “And what’s that off to ...” CRASH!!!!!!"

PERFECT STORY FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR! A Christmas classic in the making, November 29, 2007
On Amazon.com - customer review of fellow author

I haven't read a story about the North Pole since POLAR EXPRESS, so it was a delight at this time of year to read this charming story about a lovable, unforgettable bear cub.

The five-year-old cub is Benjamin Polarcap Blizzard, known as Benny by all who love this precocious little character ... and everybody loves him, especially his parents, Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves.

Benny's parents have always dreamed of working with Santa Claus, so when a job opportunity comes along, they move to Christmastown. Benny misses his old friends but soon becomes friends with the Clauses and elves and starts on the most rambunctious adventures of his life.

Benny is big for his age, with huge paws that make him clumsy; though everyone teases him about his clumsiness, they all adore him, and he knows it. Just wait till you read the charming scene where he gets in trouble in the toy shop and how Santa's positive attitude and good nature turn it into a "good" thing.

And what happens when Benny falls asleep in Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve? How does he end up being the Christmas hero? And how does Santa use Rudolph's nose to send a message to Benny's parents?

But that's getting ahead of the story and I certainly don't want to spoil it for you.

All I can say is that I love Benny, and you and your kids will too. Kids will undoubtedly relate to his fun-loving nature, his clumsiness, and his penchant for getting into trouble. After all, that's what ALL the best kids are like, isn't it?

Just ask Santa Claus! He understands kids better than anyone.

Author Karen Nivens has created new, novel characters that will long be remembered by children around the world. And talented artist Jason Grisham has interpreted Nivens's characters with the most cheerful, colorful illustrations imaginable. Simply fantastic!

This book leaves me with one question: After Benny, will Christmastown ever be the same? You be the judge.

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/097981541X/ref=dp_db_cm_cr_acr_txt?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1



http://www.bookideas.com/reviews/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayReview&id=4293
Benjamin P. Blizzard: Welcome to Christmastown
by Karen L. Nivens , Jason Grisham
rating 3.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by: John L. Hoh, Jr.

Benjamin "Benny" Blizzard is a polar bear. Well, in the book he's called "Benny," so this review will refer to him as "Benny." Benny's mom, Beatrice, is a famous reindeer doctor who finally gets the commission to practice medicine for Santa. Benny's dad, Bernard, is an engineer who had developed a keyboard for paws so that polar bears could be part of the computer age (well, Bernard also like playing computer games and surfing the 'Net).

Benny, their son, fits in nicely. But growing polar bears are gangly and they are not as nimble as small elves. And it is this lack of nimbleness that sets the stage for our story.

Benny tries to help load the sleigh on Christmas Eve. Of course as he admires the toys in the toy workshop he trips on a table. Amid a loud CRASH toys and paint go flying. The elves are perplexed--there is no time to make new toys and dolls!

Santa comes and laughs. He sees special rainbow toys where everyone else sees ruin. And he lets out a hearty "HO-HO-HO!" (or was it HOH-HOH-HOH?") But Benny is afraid and runs to hide. Well, hiding in Santa's sleigh probably wasn't wise.

But Santa won't pass up free help on his busiest night of the year. Meanwhile, Benny makes a special delivery with special toys to some special children.

The book is a delightful story of forgiveness and redemption.





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Purchase Benjamin P. Blizzard: Welcome to Christmastown from Amazon.com!






http://www.amazon.com/Benjamin-P-Blizzard-Welcome-Christmastown/dp/097981541X
A fun Christmas book for school aged children, June 12, 2008
rating 4 out of 5 stars
By Reader Views "www.readerviews.com" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

Reviewed by Cayden (age 4) and Max (age 2) Aures and Mom for Reader Views (6/08)

"Benjamin P. Blizzard: Welcome to Christmastown" is the story about a polar bear, Benjamin Polarcap Blizzard ("Benny" for short), and his family who move to Christmastown, North Pole shortly before Easter. Benny's mother, Beatrice, was a respected doctor among polar bears and moved the family to Christmastown so that she could take over retiring Dr. Aloe-Elf's medical practice. Benny's father, Bernard, was an inventor and an engineer and impressed Santa and Mrs. Claus with his work that they gave him the title of First Chief Design-Engineer.

The book centers on 5-year-old Benny who "was a curious, adventurous, and rambunctious delight of a cub." He made friends with the elf children but found he was not quite as nimble as them; in fact, he was very clumsy compared to them. Even though Benny has a mishap that could have been devastating, Santa shows everyone the good in it and a lesson is learned.

Cayden: "Why aren't there hardly any pictures in this book? There are a lot of words!"

Max: "Bear fall!"
Cayden: "Mom- I think he wrecked all of the toys!!"

Cayden: We leave out cookies and milk for Santa too."

Cayden: "His mommy and daddy don't know where he is! They are worried!"

Parent's comments:

This book was sent to us as "preschool reviewers" and though it is a good story I think it was a little too long (41 pages) for the preschool age group. I had a hard time getting my children interested in the book in the beginning, but once the character of Benny was introduced my 4-year-old took more interest. However, the lack of illustrations made it hard to keep him involved in the book. Sometimes ten pages go by without a picture and with 100+ words per page that is a long time for a little one not to have anything visual to look at.

We are all familiar with the classic Christmas and North Pole books and it is refreshing to see a new story from such a classic theme. The storyline of "Benjamin P. Blizzard: Welcome to Christmastown" was positive and original. I think that this book would be better suited for an older school-age child as it was a little overwhelming for my preschool-aged children.