This house loves Christmas and I think it
is due to the fact that my Mum was so into Christmas and would fully deck the
halls as some may like to call it. Our house was always covered in lights
(which I now do) and the tree was always up in November as she couldn’t wait
until December and if I am honest last year our tree was up in the end of
November as well.
Reading in December is ALWAYS fun as this
is when the festive books get purchased or taken off the shelves for reading.
This year reading is even more exciting now as my eldest Hayley has learnt how
to read in school, she is one of the best in her class- even I am amazed at how
well she reads.
This year thanks to SCHOLASTIC we have been
given a beautiful array of books for the girls. I was going to make this a top
three, but I couldn’t half the numbers as all 6 of these festive books are
adorable and a MUST READ! Most of these the girls have not seen though as I
want to keep it a secret and starting to purchase and collect a book a day for
December Christmas Reads to get the girls super excited for Santy Clause to
visit.
The first book is
Santa’s Busy Reindeer $16.99
Author: Ed Allen Illustrator: Nathaniel Eckstrom
This is a super cute book that rhymes and
makes you want to sing the words out rather then read.
It is a take on the glass bottles sitting
on a wall song, only this version is cuter with everything Christmas included.
The images in this book are just phenomenal
and Nathaniel works with digital, pencil and oil painting on canvas to really
make this book come alive.
My favourite from the book would be-
“Three of Santa’s reindeer were baking
Christmas food,
but when one of those reindeer stomped off
in a bad mood,
there were two of Santa’s reindeer left
baking Christmas food.”
This page here reminds me of our house at
Christmas when all of us kids used to try and pile into the kitchen to help Mum
cook a feast. When one of us didn’t get our way we would crack it and not want
anything to do with kitchen prep haha. So for me this book does bring back some
beautiful memories.
One Night $24.99
Author: Penny Matthews Illustrator: Stephen Michael King
One night is a magical story about how
every Christmas Eve at midnight the animals can speak, and they relive a Christmas
Eve long ago when Jesus was born.
Hayley goes to a Catholic School where she
is learning about Jesus and the true meaning of what happens around Christmas
in the Catholic world. So as soon as she will hear this book is surrounded
around Jesus I know she will be intrigued and want to read it over and over.
On the first Christmas Eve, so the story
goes, the animals were given a very special gift to celebrate the birth of
Jesus. Since then, at midnight on Christmas Eve the animals reminisce.
Again I love the images throughout this
book as it is not perfect and you could just stare at each and every pages
images and get lost (well I know I do).
Deck the Sheds with Bits of Wattle- CD included $19.99
Author: Colin Buchanan & Greg Champion
Illustrator: Glen Singleton
Just the heading of this books makes me
start singing Fa la la la la la la la la after it. These Aussie books are by
far my favourite, as I love a good book that is relatable to us Aussies- after
all when on Earth was the last time it snowed on Christmas in Australia- for me
NEVER?!
Deck the sheds with bits and wattle is a
cute, super hilarious, Aussie version of Deck the Halls. Hence the reason you
want to start singing the song after reading the heading. But lucky for this
book, there IS a CD that has the new Aussie Christmas lyrics incorporated into
it- which I wont lie I think is cuter then the original :-P So you can sing along to, with this book.
Spoiler Alert: A gust of wind turns Syd
Echidna’s shed from Christmas to chaos. His helpful friends make sure Syd’s
Christmas is merry and his shed’s a ripper!
The pictures are bright and on each page
there are so many things to look at. Often the girls and I will play eye spy
with books like this to help them really look into the book and appreciate it.
The Twelve Days of Christmas $14.99
Author: Alison Jay
Illustrator: Alison Jay
The first thing with this book that caught
my eye was certainly Alison Jay’s illustrations. They are absolutely beautiful
and remind me of stone paintings in Europe. The images all look to have a
cracked effect to them, and are just very special.
Spoiler Alert: On Christmas Eve, a man buys
presents for the woman he loves, beginning with a partridge in a pear tree. The
couple travel through town and the gifts pile up, until they get to a Christmas
party so magnificent it is a little overwhelming.. leading them to slip back to
the quiet of home, where their partridge is waiting.
Almost like a Christmas romance only kid
rated, that makes it special for both the adults and the children. So far this
is one of my favourites, although Hayley did find the script writing very hard
to read- so this will be left to Mummy.
There was an Old Bloke Who Swallowed a Present $15.99
Author: P.Crumble
Illustrator: Louis Shea
I have read many of the previous
publications of this line such as: There was an old lady who swallowed a
Mozzie, There was an Old bloke who swallowed a bunny and there was another one
I think maybe There was an old lady who swallowed a Meerkat. I love this series
of books and that is because each and every single page makes them crack up and
giggle!
So when I saw that they had released a
Christmas one the kids inside me begun to scream with glee, and I honestly
cannot wait to read this to the girls. I have read it so that I can give you my
review, and I just know they will laugh.
The old bloke looks very similar to Santa
Clause, but my favourite part is:
There was an old bloke who swallowed some
Gingerbread.
That Tasty fellow offered a sandwhich
instead.
He swallowed the gingerbread to read the
card.
He swallowed the card to go with the
present.
I don’t know why he swallowed the present…
Now that’s not pleasant!
I wont lie thought this old bloke in the
book has very pretty, mystical insides haha.
Also as with the other Christmas books from
Scholastic I LOVE these images and they are almost identical to the previous
publications. Also much like the others
this book’s front cover is also holographic and moves as you move the book.
The Nights Before Christmas: 24 Classic Stories to Read
Aloud $29.99
Author and Illustrator: Tony Ross
Now I have saved this one for last as you
could purchase this book to cover every single day/night in December in the
lead up to Christmas. This is a great book for Hayley to listen and read along
to but not for Madison. Madison will get bored with this book as there is not
many images at all and when there is there is not as much detail as the other
stories above.
This one might be one we will gift to
someone until our Children become a little older- or we might keep it on the
shelf until next year when Hayley can read this all by herself as she almost
could this year but there are a few tricky words in there.
The Nights before Christmas has 24 classic
festive tales, songs and stories to read throughout Advent or keep as a family
anthology. There are festive extracts from much loved book likes A Christmas
carol, little women and the wind in the willows.
Like I did mention above this would make
for a beautiful present for those families or children who enjoy reading.
My favourite story is Letter to Susy, there
is even a super cute hand written letter J
So there they are, my six reads for
Christmas thanks to Scholastic. What are your favourites or what will you be
reading this Christmas?
