Das weihnachtsgeheimnis jostein gaarder biography

This book was published not too long after the Norwegian author's better known novel, Sophie's World, made a big international splash. Probably way too many copies of The Christmas Mystery were printed, and I seem to remember it being remaindered almost right away. Certainly, I bought it as a remainder, and it sat unread on my shelves for about 15 years. Early this past December, I pulled it out thinking of creating some badly needed shelf space. I read the first chapter (finally) and was hooked by the premise: Joachim, a boy in a small town in Norway finds a mysterious hand-made Advent calendar in a used bookshop; each day when he opens a door a folded slip of paper with writing falls out, each day's installment telling the story of a girl named Elisabet who makes a strange, mystical journey to Bethlehem, running from the town in Norway across Europe and back in time, in a growing company of sheep, angels, shepherds, wise men (and others who play bit parts in the nativity story). There's a chapter for each door that Joachim opens, making the book itself something of an Advent calendar. I immediately thought to spend December reading it aloud to my eight-year-old boy at bedtime.

Now that we're finished, I don't regret it, but there w

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