Translated Books
Sophie’s Tom / Sophie Hits Six / Sophie is Seven by Dick King- Smith & Hannah Shaw
My daughter received three Sophie stories as a Christmas present last year and once we started reading we couldn’t put them down, they are so entertaining and funny. The books were first published in the early nineties but I had never heard of them before. These versions, illustrated by Hannah Shaw, were published in 2015 and…
Dec 21st: Guy Parker-Rees chooses Happy Christmas Maisy
The Story: Happy Christmas Maisy is really not about the plot! Maisy does Christmassy things: buying and wrapping presents, baking, putting up decorations and stockings. Then there’s a knock at the door…
Dec 16th: Tom Percival chooses Once Upon a Northern Night
The Story: Put simply Once Upon a Northern Night is a story about the magic and wonder of seeing the ordinary, familiar world transformed by a snowfall.
Dec 12th: Caryl Hart chooses The Christmas Bear
The Story: The Christmas Bear is the adorable story of a little polar bear who falls down a snowy hole, down down down into Father Christmas’s workshop. Father Christmas welcomes him with open arms and shows him around. Little Bear even gets to test the toys and has a ride on Father Christmas’s sleigh. Why…
Dec 11th: ReaditDaddy & Charlotte choose The Polar Express
The Story: A young boy who is fairly disillusioned by the upcoming yuletide season boards a mysterious train that magically appears outside his house one snowy night. Thus begins an amazing journey as the train is destined for the North Pole – and to Santa’s home! There, one special child will receive the first gift…
Dec 8th: Mat Tobin chooses Father Christmas
The Story: It’s Christmas Eve and for many of us this means going to bed positively brimming with nervous excitement about what tomorrow will bring. Have we been good this year? I hope so since there’s a new copy of Jansson’s The Moomins and the Great Flood that I am hoping to unwrap on Christmas…
Dec 7th: Steve Howson chooses The Santa Trap
The Story: Bradley Bartleby is a beastly brat whose wealthy parents give him everything he wants – not because he deserves it, but because they are afraid of him. Santa, however, is much more discerning and knows what a nasty piece of work Bradley is. So, every year, he ignores Bradley’s huge list of demands…
Dec 5th: Melanie McGilloway chooses Olivia Helps With Christmas
The Story: Olivia Helps With Christmas starts on Christmas Eve. Olivia is helping her mum with preparations for the big day, with hilarious consequences, while impatiently waiting for Father Christmas. Why is Olivia Helps With Christmas your favourite Christmas book? We have always loved Olivia’s enthusiastic yet accident-prone approach to life in general but her…
Dec 3rd: Abie Longstaff chooses How The Grinch Stole Christmas!
The Story: Unlike the rest of the town, the mean old Grinch doesn’t like Christmas. He thinks it’s just about giving presents and eating feasts. So he sets about stealing all the gifts and food…but he soon realises that, for the Whos in Whoville, Christmas is really about sharing and friendship and love.
Gobbolino The Witch’s Cat by Ursula Moray Williams & Catherine Rayner
We’re nearly there! Gobblino is is the eleventh book that we have read for the 2015 Classics Challenge which has been a lot of fun. All the books that we have read have been new to my daughter but some have been new to me as well. I don’t remember reading Gobbolino as a child although the story did seem…
