Festive Delights: Our Christmas Eve Choice

We have been so lucky to receive such an amazing array of books to read in the run up to Christmas - books with sounds, pop-up books and even books that have twinkling lights! However, The Christmas Eve Tree, written by Delia Huddy and illustrated by Emily Sutton, has to be one of the books with the strongest message about Christmas spirit and that is why it is our pick for Christmas Eve.

Festive Delights: Brilliant Bears

December is very nearly here and we are now over half way through sharing the festive delights we will be reading during Advent. Our last post was about baking and today's selection of books are all stories about brilliant bears! These three seasonal books are not just new to us, they have all been published this year (2017) so are brand new titles!

Festive Delights: Stories, Baking and the BBC Good Food Show!

From a really young age Mini Reviewer, Izzie, has loved cookery programmes her favourites including anything with Mary Berry or the Hairy Bikers and, of course, The Great British Bake Off. In fact when Izzie discovered Mary was not going to judge the latest series of GBBO she actually sobbed uncontrollably for about half an hour, however once the first episode got going she quickly recovered and happily sat through every episode after that - sorry Mary, six year olds are rather fickle!

Festive Delights: I Killed Father Christmas

If you are looking for a festive first chapter book this Christmas then I Killed Father Christmas could be the perfect choice. Although it sounds a bit grisly, don't be put off, it really isn't! I Killed Father Christmas is in fact a lovely story which is full of humour and warmth. Written by award-winning author Anthony McGowan and illustrated throughout by the amazing, Chris Riddell, this fantastic first chapter book is great for reading alone or aloud.

Become a Writing Star with the Premier League #PLPrimaryStars

Some children are reluctant readers, others reluctant writers and quite a few are both! So how can we ensure that all children are inspired to learn? Well perhaps the answer lies with the Premier League and some of their top footballing stars!

Language Learning Part 4: Learning with Lingotot

Welcome back to our Language Learning Series. This week we were delighted to be able to try out a Lingotot language class in York. I have been looking into language classes for a while as I think they are a great way to boost enthusiasm for language learning with little ones plus, of course, you get to meet new people.

Festive Delights: Last Stop On The Reindeer Express

We have another new Festive Delight to share with you today. Last Stop On The Reindeer Express has been written by Maudie Powell-Tuck, illustrated by Karl James Mountford and published by Little Tiger. 

It is a beautiful and poignant story about a little girl called Mia who can't be with her Dad at Christmas. Having made him a special card she discovers a mysterious postbox at the Christmas Market. She then meets a new friend and so begins her extraordinary journey, but will she make her delivery in time for Christmas?

Festive Delights: The First Christmas

It's time for our next selection of Festive Delights and today we are sharing two incredibly special books about the First Christmas. 

It is our aim to read a new Nativity book each Christmas and last year our choice was Room for a Little One - A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell and Jason Cockcroft, which is a beautiful portrayal of the Christmas story, you can read all about our thoughts here. This year we are including not one but two beautiful Nativity stories in our count down to Christmas selection. The first is The Christmas Story, an Exquisite Pop-up Retelling,  by Robert Sabuda, and the second is Make & Play Nativity illustrated by Joey Chou.