Christmas Carol vs. The Ghost of Christmas Presents Book

I recently picked up the book “Christmas Carol vs. The Ghost of Christmas Presents” by James Pujals, after having seen it advertised on the Atariage forums.

I was immediately interested because it’s a story written about a homebrew video game for the Intellivision, and also because it had a Christmas holiday theme and the holidays are rapidly approaching. It’s also not often that I read children’s stories, so it’s a throwback to childhood memories and more innocent times. I later learned, that not only did James, design the video game, but he also wrote this book and did all the artwork, Amazing!

The book tells the tale of one of Santa’s Elves, Carol, who was dispatched by Santa, to retrieve presents which were stolen straight out of Santa’s workshop in the North Pole. The back of the book gives a proper explanation:

While Santa Clause and his elves were busy getting ready for their most important night of the year an Evil Snowman broke into Santa’s workshop and stole some of the presents! With no time to spare, Santa sent his most trusted and resourceful elf, Carol Greenleaf, to confront the fiend and return the stolen presents.

Meanwhile, the Evil snowman has hidden the loot deep within the Frozen Ice-Cube Caverns, nestled away in the Himalayan mountains. The caverns are haunted by the legendary Ghost of Christmas Presents, a mysterious and spooky spirit who will steal any present he can get his hands on.

Relying on her wits and resourcefulness (and a little bit of magic), Carol must explore the dark caverns, defeat her foes and return the stolen presents before time runs out-Christmas morning is fast approaching!

She is on a mission… The children of the world are counting on her…

This book is a refreshing tale. I loved the language or sayings used in the book. For example, when Carol was delighted by something she would often exclaim “Sweet Candy Canes!”. She would often call the Evil snowman a “mean rotten chestnut”. On page 69, she exclaimed “what a goofy silly billy”. I Love it.

Prior to the first chapter beginning, we are presented with a map titled “The Frozen Ice Cube Caverns”. It’s an incomplete map that would later be filled in by Carol herself during her adventure. As the story unfolds, there are colorful illustrations sprinkled in. All this artwork, again, was impressively done by the book’s author.

Over on Atariage, James, shared with us, some of his creative process, on how a small sketch turns into the completed artwork used in the book.

At the book’s conclusion, the final image on the last page of the book, we are presented with the finished map, which Carol completed, even going so far as to name the various rooms and areas, all herself. The map evokes a Dungeons and Dragons vibe to me, which is really neat. Overall I really enjoyed the story and the adventure it took me on. It reminded me a lot of the old Dr. Seuss and Grinch style holiday cartoon movies, and I thought it would make for a great holiday film itself, one day.

2020 has been a heck of a year. So what a better time, to snuggle up to a nice book, sip some tea, and get lost in an amazing story. This book would make a terrific stocking stuffer.

It is a hardcover book measuring 7¼” × 10¼” × ½”. Beautiful and shiny cover stock and it includes a really cool bookmarker, with an image of Carol on one side and the mean naughty Evil snowman on the reverse side.

It clocks in at 110 pages, includes 14 original full-color illustrations, and can be yours for only $24.99 over at:

https://www.carolvsghost.com/book/

If you’re interested in playing the Intellivision game, the ROM is available to free over at:

https://www.carolvsghost.com/getrom