When I Dream of Christmas is a non fiction book which introduces young children to various aspects of Christmas. As well as introducing Baby Jesus, shepherds and kings it also includes British traditions such as stockings, mince pies and Christmas cake. Each double page spread has text on the left and a full page picture on the right. The humorous text is short and simple and Patricia Yuste’s illustrations are beautiful.
For me the illustrations make this book, they are bold, colourful, Christmassy and in some cases very original (Look out for the aliens on the Christmas Cards page!). My daughter loves the pictures and although she doesn’t understand all of the humour in the text it is a good book to use to introduce her to British Christmas customs and encourage discussion.
This would also be a great book to use in a classroom with non native English speakers of all ages, the pictures could be used to stimulate conversations about Christmas celebrations in other countries.
‘Cheesy stockings’ followed by a fit of giggles is now used regularly in my daughter’s conversation (in reference to the Stockings page).
When I Dream of Christmas is also available as an ebook.
Age Range: 3 +
Author – Oakley Graham / Illustrator – Patricia Yuste
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