One Wild Christmas is a beautifully illustrated Christmas story which celebrates familiar traditions and the joy of nature – moose, bear and beaver style!
The Story: On Christmas Eve a bear, a moose and a beaver are busy preparing for Christmas. But they’ve forgotten to get a tree! They go out and find several trees that aren’t quite right but then they find the perfect pine. As the beaver starts to chop the tree the bear races to protect it. A fight ensues and bear ties his friends to the tree. But then he has a wonderful idea!
Christmas is the bear, the moose and the beaver’s favourite time of year and they celebrate many universal traditions including hanging stockings, baking, wrapping presents and putting up decorations. But they also love the great outdoors – making snowmen, sledging and having snowball fights.
We love the playful colourful illustrations that accompany the simple text, our favourite is the final one which encompasses the spirit of Christmas and friendship. The illustrations made us laugh as a little pink bird joins in on the bear’s side as he tries to stop his friends damaging the tree. We think that the bird also played a large part in helping the bear find a way to protect it although he’s not mentioned in the text.
This is a great story to stimulate discussions about Christmas traditions and how different families celebrate. It also introduces the concept of problem solving, on a first reading you could stop at the point where the characters argue and ask children what they think the animals will do and what advice they would give to the animals to solve their problem. It’s short, simple text is also great for beginner readers.
Age Range: 3 +
Author / Illustrator: Nicholas Oldland
Thank you to Kids Can Press and Netgalley for the review copy of this seasonally heartwarming book.
There are also several translations of this festive story.
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