13/12/2015 1 Comment Christmas Challenge Dec 13Tosca's Christmas, by Matthew Sturgis with illustrations by Anne Mortimer, combines two of my favourite things - cats and Christmas! Tosca, a beautiful tortoiseshell cat, doesn't like Christmas because she always seems to be in the way and she never gets any gifts. This Christmas is different however when she meets a very special someone in a red suit and finally gets a present just for her. The pictures are just gorgeous and this was a favourite book for December reading when my children were small. You can only get second hand copies now unfortunately but it's well worth snapping the book up if you get the chance.
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12/12/2015 0 Comments Christmas Challenge Dec 12Today I've revisited a classic - The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg. I've watched the film many times but had only read the book once many years ago. It is luckily just as enchanting as I remembered with dark atmospheric illustrations and descriptions of the journey in the middle of the night to the North Pole. I can recite the last paragraph off by heart and I'm sure I would still hear the bell (I can certainly hear the replica one I have on my tree!) " At one time all my friends could hear the bell but as the years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've gotten old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe."
5/12/2015 1 Comment Christmas Challenge Dec 5I suppose I should have kept today's book, Librarian's Night Before Christmas by David Davis with illustrations by Jim Harris, until 24th December but I'm so glad I didn't - plenty of time for rereads before then. A retelling of the famous poem from a librarian's viewpoint the story starts with a very pertinent comment "We toiled overtime at our library here, 'cause the powers that be cut our staffing this year' , rings bells and I don't mean festive ones. Santa arrives to fulfil the poor librarian's wishes though and stocks the shelves with classics, gives books to little children and reads to them having arrived in a flying red mobile library bus. So many quotes I could use but loved this one"Nick chided a censor who wished some books gone. And suggested she scan Fahrenheit 451!" Librarian friends you need to add this book to your collections!
"Nick winked at the cat as they dashed down the aisles, And yelled "Happy reading you bibliophiles!" He loaded his crew and sang from the yard, "The best gift of all is a library card!" |
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 |