Christmas and more

Books for Christmas

In an effort to maintain a sensible amount of gifts on Christmas morning my kids get a ‘Santa Sack’ filled mainly with essential items (underwear, socks, bathers, pyjamas, drink bottles), consumables and perhaps a game or toy of some sort. Under the tree, there are one or two family presents and they each have one main present to unwrap and one book. These are the wonderful additions to our family library for 2021.

Freya: The Trouble at Table 5: The Candy Caper, by Tom Watson

I am still on high alert for junior fiction series that will appeal to Freya. She will occasionally choose to read to herself, but I still have to insist on dedicated reading time every day. I was so happy when she started reading this by herself and enjoyed it enough to finish.

The books feature three close friends who all have different quirks; in this book there is a focus on one who has some sort of OCD about counting things.  If your kid had enjoyed Felice Arena’s The Besties series, this series is probably the next step up in content and length.

Tobin: Lift, by Minh Le and Dan Santat

For all the Dan Santat books we have read and gifted, it is hard to believe we didn’t own one. So I took the opportunity to remedy that this Christmas by giving Tobin this masterpiece.

In partnership with Minh Le again (you can read my review of their previous book, Drawn Together, here), this is comic book-inspired picture book that will inspire children to imagine and show kindness. A young apartment-dwelling girl gets the privilege of pressing the buttons in the elevator every day, until one day her baby brother gets big enough and suddenly her ‘thing’ is taken away from her.

The illustrations are, as expected, brilliant – full of light, contrast, detail, and wonder. The story contains emotion and connection. All in all, a very solid picture book that I think all kids will enjoy.

Odette: No Reading Allowed: The Worst Read-Aloud Book Ever, by Raj Haldar, Chris Carpenter and Bryce Gladfelter

A couple of years ago we enjoyed a fantastically complicated alphabet book, P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Books Ever (read review here). So naturally, a follow-up book highlighting the beautiful difficulties the English gives us in the form of homophones (and some homonyms) was something I wanted us to have.

This sequel achieves a very high level of wit and humour. The pictures, while not my favourite style, do a wonderful job helping kids understand the difference in the meaning of two sentences that sound indistinguishable. This is certainly a fun book that will reveal itself to kids as they age and mature in their language skills.

Jude: This Was Our Pact, by Ryan Andrews

Jude is still very much into graphic novels and I wanted to get him a high-quality one for Christmas. This was highly recommended, and given he had finished it by the end of Boxing Day and has since gone back for a re-read, I’d say he also liked it.

I’m mid-way through reading it myself, and given I don’t always love the graphic novel style, I am enjoying it. A group of boys start following lanterns which have been sent down a river. They have made a pact to not to look back until they find where these lanterns end up. With themes of friendship, persistence, and a bit of the supernatural, this book is a definite must for those who love the genre.

Picture Books

I’ve felt like I’m in a bit of funk recently. I have finally said goodbye to my old public library service after a few returning errors and have fully embraced the new council library. Unfortunately, I haven’t found out how to suggest purchases and I feel like we aren’t getting as good a supply as we used to. I now have to go select books from the shelves and we just haven’t been getting as a high a quality of books as we’re used to.

We have been going back to a few old favourites, like Elephant and Piggie. Also, over the last month, we have had a few picture books that have been really good and will hopefully get me back into the read-aloud groove.

The Unwilling Twin, by Freya Blackwood – This is another sublime picture book from Freya Blackwood which is ideal for a preschooler who loves pigs and/or the beach. 

Vampire Peter, by Ben Manley and Hannah Peck – I liked the twist in this one, it was completely unexpected by me. (Spoiler coming up.) The book is told in the third person and I assumed it was a narrator, until half way through when it becomes clear that one of the characters is the narrator and we are experiencing the story from their perspective. 

I also thought it was a very clever way of presenting children with ways of responding to people who they consider to be ‘different’. By having the title character be ‘different’ by being a vampire parents can easily discuss other ways children might be different, whether that be because of abilities, behaviour or culture.

Kevin, by Rob Biddulph – I adore Rob Biddulph’s books (Show and TeIl was a terrific one and my review can be read here) and have read and gifted them numerous times. I spied this one on the shelf and recognised Rob’s distinctive illustration style, so it went straight into the library bag. I am actually surprised I haven’t come across it sooner as it is not a very recent book, being published in 2017. 

The story starts with the main character, Sid, getting into trouble with his mum for causing mischief, so he offers Kevin as the scapegoat. Kevin is an imaginary ‘friend’ but Sid doesn’t actually act that friendly to Kevin. Until that is, he realises that the way he behaves has an impact on Kevin. 

This is a wonderful rhyming book that young children will adore and older children will want to look over your shoulder and listen to as well. For those who have maybe exhausted all Julia Donalson option this is an excellent option. 

Plus if you have a kid who loves to draw, Rob has made a “Draw With Rob” YouTube clip of Kevin where he also explains the inspiration behind the story. 

Chicks Rule!, by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and Renée Kurilla – Despite the very overt suggestion of gender equality and feminism, I’m not sure my kids really picked up any of it. They certainly didn’t tell me that they connected ‘chicks’ with women. Which is fine, even without being explicitly told what the author was trying to communicate, I’m sure the ideas of equal opportunity were picked up on. This was a really fun read that the kids were happy to listen to repeatedly. 

Booking for Mum

After The Tattooist of Auschwitz which I found very confronting and uncomfortable, (I hope I will always feel that way when reading about hate-fuelled atrocities), I surprised myself by reading The Happiest Man on Earth, by Eddie Jaku. In this autobiography, Eddie does not hold back much from the horror and inhumanity he experienced in the hands of the Nazi soldiers. He describes his life leading up to the war as a Jew in Europe as he was forced to masquerade as a Gentile in order to gain an education. An education he asserts saved his life, as the Nazis were willing to exploit their skilled prisoners before extermination.

Eddie tells us about other lessons he learned during the time. A particularly memorable one for me was the value and impact one friend can make. Eddie attributes his survival to the fact that he had one person who cared that he lived.

We have all heard about how horrific the concentration camps were, but I haven’t spent much time thinking about life outside of the camps. At one point Eddie escapes and approaches a home seeking assistance only to be chased away by bullets, one lodging in his leg. It is unclear if the man is motivated by hate or fear, but Eddie learns that he is no safer out of Auschwitz than he is inside. He then, unfathomably, sneaks back in as he knows a prisoner who is a doctor and can remove the bullet from his leg.

I read this book in one night; it is mercifully brief. I don’t think I could handled a lengthier book dwelling on the barbaric events that transpired in Eddie’s youth and the impact that had on him for years after. I am so glad he has found happiness in his life and is willing to share that with others. It is beautiful, hopeful and extremely inspirational.