5/12/2015 0 Comments Christmas Challenge Dec 4Reading festive themed chick lit is one of my guilty pleasures - although I don't personally believe you should feel guilty about any reading, it's all good! Today's book, A Miracle at Macy's by Lynn Marie Hultman, fits the bill for December reading perfectly. It has descriptions of all of the events and places that make New York so special at Christmas, an adorable dog, delicious food and a relationship that seems to be unlikely at the start but that ends happily enough to prompt a contented sigh. Comforting read, a hot chocolate with marshmallows and a candy cane stirrer in book form!
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3/12/2015 0 Comments Christmas Challenge Dec 3My reading choice today resonates even more poignantly in the light of yesterday's Syria decision - The Best Christmas Present in the World by Michael Morpurgo with illustrations from Michael Coleman. This slim volume tells the story of the Christmas truce of 1914 when both sides laid down their arms and celebrated Christmas Day together, realising that they were not so different after all. The spare, almost lyrical prose brought a tear to my eye by the the time I got to the bittersweet ending. The misty, watercolour images illustrate the text perfectly and are well worth lingering over. A small book that packs a big emotional punch.3/12/2015 0 Comments Christmas Challenge Dec 2This December I have set myself a Christmas Challenge - each day I will read a festive tale and blog about it. Some of the reviews will be of books, some will be apps but I intend to upload one every single day :-)
This morning I've read one of my favourite types of book - a picture book, Badger's Grumpy Christmas by Paul Bright illustrated by Jane Chapman. Poor badger just wants to go to sleep but the other animals want him to join in the Christmas festivities and keep knocking on his door. Badger gets grumpier and grumpier and refuses to help when poor mole gets stuck at the top of the tree. He finally manages to get to sleep only to have a nightmare about his friend up the tree and he wakes up, grabs the ladder and rushes off to rescue mole. All of the animals forgive Badger his earlier surliness and he hosts a wonderful festive party. I read the book via the Me Books app and it's wonderfully narrated by Will Huggins who voices Badger perfectly. I loved all the different animal voices, especially the scouser rabbit! Beautifully coloured illustrations throughout the book keep your eyes happy and this gentle tale would be perfect to share with little ones on a cold winter's night. 1/12/2015 2 Comments Christmas Challenge Dec 1This December I have set myself a Christmas Challenge - each day I will read a festive tale and blog about it. Some of the reviews will be of books, some will be apps but I intend to upload one every single day :-)
1st December A Boy Called Christmas , Matt Haig , illustrated by Chris Mould I've started off with a new story, read in one greedy gulp on the train to Newcastle. Nikolas is a lonely boy until circumstances force him to leave his home and travel to try and find his father. He makes friends with a mouse and a reindeer and is thrown into jail by elves before redeeming himself to them and being renamed Father Christmas. This is an utterly delightful reading experience, from the glitter on the cover and the humour within to the amusing, clever illustrations. It would be a perfect book for a December daily read aloud session with kids and they would be spellbound I'm sure. I loved the description of crackers - "Better than exploding trolls heads!" - given by the truth fairy! I will be treasuring my copy and hoping to get it signed by both the author and the illustrator at some point. 30/11/2012 0 Comments Festive funOk I know it's not December until tomorrow but I thought I'd share some of my favourite Christmas sites/resources early enough to be of use! Here's my top ten: Jibjab has some great holiday scenes that you can insert your family/yourself into, I particularly like the Holiday Rock and Classic Movie scenarios but don't think I would ever use the Twisted Holiday ones ....still each to their own. Capture the Magic is a site that allows you to upload photos of your home and receive them back with Santa realistically added in - not a free service but it's a small price to pay for extending the magic a bit longer for those not quite believing children. Portable North Pole is probably my absolute favourite festive site, I just love preparing personalised messages from Father Christmas for people, adding in details that make the video special for them. If you're looking for a video to play , this reading of The Night Before Christmas read by the Chichester Festival Theatre Company is just delightful. Another wonderful video offering here, The Digital Nativity , how would the Christmas story have played out on the internet? The Northpole is a lovely site to use with primary age children, packed full of activities and resources. Activity Village has some useful festive printables, including bookmarks, jokes and 3D snowmen. Norad tracks Santa is very special, great fun to login on Christmas Eve and watch the big man's journey around the globe Last but not least TES 12 games of Christmas should keep young and old occupied whilst you get on with the shopping! Hope you have found something here that you can use during December, hope your month is a happy one ;0) 20/12/2011 0 Comments Christmas readingOnly a few days until the big day and I can't wait! I'm well known for being a festive freak and I've been reading themed books for ages to get ready for it. Thought I'd share some of my favourites here;
For children A Pussycat's Christmas - when my daughter was young she was asked to read this to her whole primary school, with the pictures on overhead projector sheets and I can still see her now, so seriously reading. It's a beautiful book. http://tinyurl.com/c9svgeq Tosca's Christmas - by the same author, illustrations are delightful and Tosca looked similar to Lady, our cat at the time http://tinyurl.com/bojcomo The Christmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey - moving story told without too much sentimentalism and the pictures are quietly wonderful http://tinyurl.com/cyewk4l Spot's First Christmas - who can resist Spot? my son certainly couldn't and we read this book so many times, we probably all learnt it off by heart!http://tinyurl.com/bntuehc Santa's Twin & Robot Santa - I read a lot of Dean Koontz when I was younger and was delighted to discover these two picture books written by him about Santa's naughty brother http://tinyurl.com/cjcpxfl http://tinyurl.com/cg9dl4t The Night Before Christmas - classic of course, we always read it as a family on Christmas Eve before bed, even though my kids are grown now. We still have this old copy of it that was published in the year my son was born and it is much cherished. http://tinyurl.com/crz7224 Chick Lit I'm not ashamed to admit it, I find romance makes for very relaxing reading, especially books that have a festive theme and these have been my favourites this year: Christmas at Tiffany's - loved the glamour and travel description in this book, didn't want it to end http://tinyurl.com/clwfxj5 1225 Christmas Tree Lane - I only discovered Debbie Macomber this year , her books are as comforting as a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows on a cold night and this book was no exception, left a warm fuzzy feeling lol. What else have I read this December? well I have returned to an old favourite, Rumpole at Christmas, his irascibility and the dry humour in John Mortimer's writing are very amusing. Finishing with the best I am also re reading Christmas Carol but on my ipad this year, excellent Padworx version that I am very much enjoying. Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas, hope you get all the books you've been wishing for (I'm hoping Santa will bring me the Amazon voucher I've been hinting at!) Happy reading! |
AuthorMy blog is a collection of thoughts and I hope you will learn something about me from the ramblings as well as finding some useful links. I'm Bev Humphrey and I'm a Literacy, School Libraries and Technology Consultant. I am self employed so views expressed are solely my own. CategoriesAll Android Apps Authors Bett Book Giving Day Books Cats Childrens Books Christmas Christmas Challenge Conferences Dickens Dyslexia English Games Geography Graphic Novels Images Inspiration International Women's Day Ipad Ipad For Education Libraries London Mfl Picture Books Podcasts Poetry Poetry Day Primaries Reading Resources Revision Twitter Urls Video Visits Wbd Wordcloud Wordle Workshops Write Path Writers Writing YA Youtube |