anti-hero; someone the reader can imagine as a friend. If Garvie is a teenager for today, so is Jo as she imagines a life for herself that will not be bound by a Chinese takeaway. Chinglish is fresh, contemporary, funny and full of life – just what a Christmas present should be.
Christmas is for... familiar faces
And who could be more familiar than Harry Potter? In The Goblet of Fire Jim Kay’s artwork bursts off the page, a gift to give on giving. An older favourite, but as welcome, is Black Beauty gorgeously illustrated with great realism by Christian Birmingham. Around the World in Eighty Days gets a new treatment too at the hands of Antonis Papatheodoulou: reimagined and full of riddles, it instantly engages, and the result is a neat picture book that does not sacrifice the storytelling.
Christmas is for... enquiring minds
For young readers thirsty for information there is plenty to look out for. Dinosaurs are a sure-fire choice and The Truth about Dinosaurs by Guido Van Genechten is an engaging introduction for the youngest, grounded in facts but with a quirky approach. More serious but engrossing and lavishly illustrated is Life. The First Four Billion Years. Here this almost unimaginable past is put into perspective intelligently and accessibly. We don’t use the sense of smell very much; animals do and Nose Knows. Wild Ways Animals smell the World introduces the subject with plenty of interactive flaps to reveal added facts or expand the text; guaranteed to fascinate curious young minds. The world outside the window as described in What’s that – Garden Birds will get young birdwatchers twitching as they pocket the identification wheel which allows them to leave this handsome production safe at home.
Christmas is for... poetry
Wonderfully in keeping with the Christmas spirit is Midnight Feasts, compiled by A.F. Harrold and illustrated by Katy Riddell. This brings together an eclectic and wide-ranging selection
of
poems about food, a mouth-watering collection. Just as beautifully presented is Poems from a Green and Blue Planet, edited by Sabrina Mahfouz. Again, the selection features contemporary poets as well as those from past and from around the world. This is a gift to excite. Finally, Shakespeare – following her previous anthologies, Allie Esiri has created Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year. This is a gift for the family to share, and everyone will want to find the sonnet, soliloquy or speech matched with their birthday. Beautifully presented and with inspiring introductions to each piece of verse, this will sit happily on everyone’s Christmas list.
Christmas is for... fun
How to Hide a Lion at Christmas by Helen Stephens is a thoroughly enjoyable picture book and reveals all as Lion follows Iris to join the Christmas gathering. The answer is ingenious if not quite expected, and Santa gets a brief look in too. Santa is certainly present in Mouse’s Night Before Christmas by Tracey Corderoy and Sarah Massini, and its rhyming text and comforting images make this a cosy Christmas story to enjoy. In The Crayon’s Christmas there are Christmas cards, notes and activities to explore on every page as Duncan and his crayons get ready for the great day. Elsewhere, Emily Gravett’s Meerkats are also getting ready for Christmas. Sonny sets off to find a perfect Christmas, his travels charted by his cards home until the final surprise.
Christmas is for ... reflection
The world turns moving through the year; this is beautifully depicted in The Hare and the Moon A Calendar of Paintings in which Catherine Hyde marries her art with the traditions, the wildlife, the names associated with each month – a calendar to treasure. Illustrators from across the world are represented in Migrations: Open Hearts Open Borders and their postcards invite the reader to reflect on what this means today. Which brings us to the Christmas story. Leah’s Story by Margaret Bateson-Hill and Karin Littlewood is a retelling of the traditional Nativity set in contemporary Palestine and made accessible to a diverse audience; a Christmas present.
Ferelith Hordon is editor of Books for Keeps
In one list, all the books we recommend for giving 2019:
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/issue/238/ childrens-books/articles/the-books-for- keeps-christmas-books-gift-list-2019
Books for Keeps No.239 November 2019 13
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