book cover

Luna Loves Christmas

by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Fiona Lumbers

Interest age: 6 to 8
Reading age: 7+

Published by Andersen, 2023

  • Picture books

About this book

Luna absolutely loves Christmas. She loves that sometimes she spends it at Mum’s house, and sometimes at Dad’s. She gets to decorate two trees, open two advent calendars and feast on two Christmas dinners. This Christmas is a little different though. As she and Mum look at their holiday schedule, Mum explains that they’ll be doing some volunteering this year. 

First, Luna helps Mummy deliver food bank packages to neighbours in need. They take a box to the McKenzie family before climbing up twelve flights of stairs to get to the Sandhus’ flat where they’re greeted by carollers. The next stop is to a small cottage outside of town where Old Ms Pothers lives. They go inside and Ms Pothers reads Luna a story by the fire.  

Then it’s off to Dad’s house for the night to bake cookies, hang up stockings and prepare a little snack for Santa. In the morning, Dad and Luna open gifts together before getting dressed in their best Christmassy outfits. They arrive at the town hall for a special community meal. Mum’s there too, serving dinner for everyone and even her grandparents have come to help.  

This wholesome book celebrates giving back to the community and normalises different family Christmas experiences. As with all the Luna Loves books, the story doesn’t delve too much into the state of the relationship between Luna’s parents, but it gently indicates that they are separated.  

The illustrations from Fiona Lumbers throughout the book are festive, beautifully captivating and detailed.  

About the author

Joseph Coelho is an award-winning children's author, performance poet and playwright based in London. He is also the Waterstones Children's Laureate for 2022-2024. His debut poetry collection, Werewolf Club Rules, was the 2015 winner of the CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award. His second book, Overheard in a Tower Block, was shortlisted for the 2018 CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award and is longlisted for the 2019 UKLA Book Awards. Joseph features in the BBC Teach 'Understanding Poetry' online series.

His work has poetry and performance at its heart, drawing on over 16 years' experience running dynamic creative literacy sessions in schools. He aims to inspire young people through stories and characters they can recognise.

More books like this

Lists of recommended reads

Share this page Twitter Facebook LinkedIn