![](https://axelscheffler.com/media/pages/books-for-older-children/jim-s-spectacular-christmas/4724d627ca-1694615856/jim_1-960x.png)
The story of Jim: a very lucky, very special, very grubby dog, who lives, improbably, in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Emma Thompson magically weaves the real-life tale of Jim - beloved dog of Sir Henry Cole who created the first Christmas card - with a fantastically warm and heartfelt Christmas romp, brilliantly illustrated by bestselling illustrator, Axel Scheffler.
A Christmas book to treasure, and an adventure filled with high emotion, guilt, redemption, unexpected presents and a life-changing brush with royalty.
![Jim's Spectacular Christmas book cover](https://axelscheffler.com/media/pages/books-for-older-children/jim-s-spectacular-christmas/f88326198a-1694615648/jims-spectacular-christmas_cover-600x.jpg)
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Axel says:
I had to do some research for this book as it is partly based on a real story about the Victoria and Albert Museum and on real characters. In the late 1980s I took on a commission from Emma Thompson, but then it took about 30 years until we actually met in person at a book signing. A little later she wrote the lovely text for Jim and I was very pleased to be asked to illustrate it.
![](https://axelscheffler.com/media/pages/books-for-older-children/jim-s-spectacular-christmas/24a31c79f3-1694615864/victoria-and-albert-990x.jpg)
This old picture of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert helped me to draw my versions of the characters
![](https://axelscheffler.com/media/pages/books-for-older-children/jim-s-spectacular-christmas/4981815cd8-1694615823/jim-3-990x.jpg)
This is a pencil sketch of one of the scenes in the book
![](https://axelscheffler.com/media/pages/books-for-older-children/jim-s-spectacular-christmas/943627d96c-1694615863/victoria-and-albert-sketch-990x.jpg)
This is a sketch of my Victoria and Albert, but I had to research what they looked like in real life first
![](https://axelscheffler.com/media/pages/books-for-older-children/jim-s-spectacular-christmas/ced0e33a17-1694615805/jim-5-990x.jpg)
The publisher sends pages with the text and blank space for me to draw rough pictures