Are you looking for an advent calendar for your little bookworm?
How Winston Came Home For Christmas is a beautifully illustrated Advent adventure told in twenty four and a half chapters. We first met Winston, a kind, brave and adventurous mouse, in How Winston Delivered Christmas, also an advent story which is such a page turner that it’s hard to read just one chapter a night!
The Story: Five days before Christmas Winston leaves his warm, cosy home with Oliver to try and find the source of a tune that has evoked a memory. He’s not quite sure what the memory is but his travels lead him on an action packed adventure through Europe and beyond. Along the way he makes new animal friends who play a part in Winston having the best Christmas ever!
Winston is an incredibly resourceful mouse who travels fearlessly around Europe. We love the way that he leaves London and meets Pru’s cousin, Gaspard – one of our favourite characters! As he travels a fox, a rat, an owl and a reindeer all help him find ways to move closer to solving the mystery of the familiar tune and the importance of the smell of peppermint. But what Winston doesn’t realise is that somebody is also looking for him too…
When Winston starts humming along to a tune played by cathedral bells he is intrigued to discover how he knows it. As he confides in his friends Pru and Eduardo he realises that somebody is lost somewhere. Winston decides to try and find them so he writes a note for Oliver and leaves for Paris.
The story is filled with the sights and smells of Christmas. There are mouthwatering descriptions of food as Winston visits a midnight market and the Great Mouse Party with its amazing cakes and sweet treats is one of our favourite illustrations 🙂
We love Alex T. Smith’s illustrations, they’re so festive and full of detail. And Winston is adorable!
As well as a chapter to read there are also Christmas themed activities to do each day. These include making a pine-cone tree forest, making your own mistle-toes, making Christmas bunting out of wrapping paper and making a Christmas tree lantern.
How Winston Came Home For Christmas is the perfect advent book for little readers. It can be read as a standalone story or as the sequel to How Winston delivered Christmas. With a sturdy cover and a festive red ribbon bookmark it will make a beautiful present.
Age Range: 4 +
Author / Illustrator: Alex T. Smith
Thank you Macmillan Publishing for sending a review copy of this beautiful, beautiful book.
More Christmas books and learning activities on Pinterest
What a beautiful festive book and I love that there are activities to try out each day.
I’m always on the look out for new books to add to our book advent so thank you for the suggestion. 🙂
It’s a great idea for an Advent Calendar and lasts longer than chocolate 🙂
It sounds delightful! He’s a lucky mouse being able to travel at the moment 😉
He is lucky! No quarantine needed for him!!
What a great idea. I love that there is a chapter for every day in the run up to Christmas. It looks like such a beautiful book too. x
It is beautiful, it would make a great Advent gift 🙂
We have ‘How Winston Delivered Christmas’ and love it and this book has been on my radar for this Christmas. The illustrations are beautiful and I do love the way it’s so perfect for an Advent book with a chapter for each day and an activity. #MMBC
I love both Winston’s stories. I can’t choose a favourite!
This looks lovely. The illustrations are really fab and this would make a great stocking filler #MMBC
We’re huge fans of Alex T. Smith’s illustrations – we particularly love the illustrations of Gaspard 🙂
This is such a wonderful idea for Advent with children. What a fabulous book #MMBC
It’s a fun way to count down the days until Christmas and including fun activities for each day is a really clever idea 🙂