The Lost Twin

Diana Finley

WHEN  Irish teenager Marie Tully gives birth to twin boys at a home for unmarried mothers in 1970, she is forced to make a terrible choice that will haunt her down the years. Can she ever recover from a heartbreaking decision that is destined to change forever the lives of both herself and her two sons?

There are powerful emotions aplenty in this gripping story which explores the corrosive consequences of family secrets, and age-old questions about nature and nurture, as a young mother struggles to repair wrongs in the past.

The Lost Twin comes from the pen of Diana Finley who worked in the NHS for many years as a Specialist in Autism before taking a change of direction and returning to her early love of writing.

And armed with the insight gained from her experiences of working with children with mental disabilities, and a natural gift for writing novels full of psychological suspense, she tugs on our heartstrings and plays with our expectations in this tale of loss, hardship, hope and mother love.

With a warning from her mother that she will never be able to return home again, 17-year-old Marie Tully leaves Ireland and travels to London to give birth at St Agatha’s, a mother and baby home run by Catholic nuns.

ANGUISHED TALE:
Diana Finley

Marie is determined that she will keep her baby rather than have it adopted but when she gives birth to twins, whom she names Barry and Donal, she is persuaded by the nuns to make the impossible choice of keeping one boy and letting the other go for adoption.

Penniless and alone, Marie agrees reluctantly to let Donal be adopted by a wealthy couple and she keeps Barry, knowing that it will be a struggle to support him and that it’s a decision that she will regret for the rest of her life.

Against the odds, Marie finds a bedsit to live in and a warm friendship with the owner of a local bakery, and the unexpected bonus of a live-in housekeeper job with its own flat at the home of the kindly widow Erna Goldstein.

Over the years, Marie raises her son Barry and gives him a good life but her love for Barry can’t wipe out the love and longing for his lost twin which ‘eats away’ at her soul every day and every night. And Barry’s behaviour is a constant worry… he knows subconsciously there is something missing in his life and he is filled with ‘a terrible anger’ that he doesn’t understand and expresses against his mother.

Marie can never bring herself to tell him that somewhere out there he has a twin brother but secrets can’t stay buried forever. And when Barry learns the truth, it threatens to tear mother and son apart. Will the family ever be reunited, and can the scars of a lifetime ever truly heal?

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Using a narrative that alternates between Marie and her two sons, Finley allows readers to understand the psychological impact of that early separation on all three members of the family, and to observe the boys’ troubled behaviour patterns that develop over the years. As Barry and

Home for Christmas

Florence McNicoll

KEEP cosy this Christmas with a festive canine story that will have dog lovers and romance fans barking with joy! Home for Christmas is the second book in a heartwarming fiction series in partnership with London’s Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, written by Florence McNicoll, pen name for writer and editor Sophie Wilson, who worked at Transworld Publishers for five years, and is a passionate cat lover and supporter of the vital work at Battersea.

Kathy Brentwood is good at keeping it together… or so it seems to the people around her. But really, struggling with grief after the death of her husband, Kathy’s life has become small. Her days are organised, her house is neat, but she is desperately lonely and with her son starting to build a life of his own, she isn’t sure where she fits any more.

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On Christmas Day, a chance encounter with a man called Ben and a rescue dog leads Kathy to the door of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. She meets Milly, the shy greyhound in need of a

Christmas on the Home Front

Annie Clarke

DURING the dark days of the Second World War, servicemen weren’t the only people risking their lives and limbs for their country. In the munitions factories, where work was dirty and dangerous, brave women took risks every day to keep the forces supplied with ammunition, and in the fourth book of her uplifting Factory Girls series, Annie Clarke brings us more dramas from the lives and loves of three friends in a North East mining village.

Clarke’s roots are dug deep into this region and she draws inspiration for her stories from her mother, who was born in a County Durham pit village during the First World War and went on to became a military nurse during the Second World War.

PIT VILLAGE DRAMAS: 
Annie Clarke 

She and her husband now live only a stone’s throw from that same pit village and she has often written about the North East in her novels which she hopes reflect her love and respect for the region’s lost mining communities.

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In October 1942, as Christmas approaches, evacuees in Massingham pit village decide a pantomime is just what they all need. Viola loves her new job away from the munitions factory, and hopes that her romance with the handsome Ralph might have a happy ending.

Meanwhile, married life is proving tough for Fran and Davey as they are forced apart by Fran’s job at the factory and Davey’s war work at Bletchley Park… and when there is an unexpected arrival on the doorstep, her world turns upside down. And following her husband’s shock confession, Beth finally feels as though she’s regaining control of her life… that is until he turns up. A lot can happen on the home front, but Christmas is a time for family and friends, and the factory girls will do everything they can to ensure this year’s celebration is one to remember.

With its delightfully authentic and nostalgic warmth, a heartfelt sense of community in hard times, and the joys of family and friendship shining through like a beacon, this is a story of strong and resourceful women which will inspire, uplift and delight.
(Arrow, paperback, £6.99)

The Mother and Baby Home

Sheila Newberry 

THE trials and triumphs of a young mixed race girl in Greater London in the 1950s take centre stage in a heartwarming story just made for the Christmas season.

Sheila Newberry, the Suffolk-born author who sadly died in January this year, knew a thing or two about the ups and downs of family life. A mother of nine children, and with twenty-two grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, this much-loved writer has left a legacy of nostalgic sagas – including The Winter Baby and The Nursemaid’s Secret – which have enthralled readers across the decades.

In The Mother and Baby Home, Newberry transports us back to wartime and an area near Croydon where she grew up… a place where she played with her friends, rolled down grassy slopes, explored old gardens, and danced to the sounds of Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. And it is here too that we meet Sunny who grows up in the mother and baby home on Grove Lane. The daughter of a wartime nurse from Trinidad and a pilot, she was abandoned by her mother on Christmas Eve in 1940 shortly after her birth and taken in by Nanette (Nan), the warm and gentle proprietor of the home.

ENCHANTING STORY:
Sheila Newberry

Never having known her parents, Sunny has always felt like she doesn’t quite fit in, but now aged 16 she is ready to find her place in the world.

Heading out to start her first job in 1956, she finally feels she has some idea of who she wants to be. But Fifties London is changing at a rapid pace and so is Sunny.

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Soon, however, she settles into her job at Rowland Printing Press where she catches the eye of the owner’s grandson, Alec, but when someone from her past returns, Sunny has some tough decisions to make… decisions that could affect the rest of her life.

The Mother and Baby Home is a beautiful, thoughtful tale exploring life’s unexpected twists and turns, and the loves, challenges and friendships that we encounter along the way. Full of rich period detail, and written with Newberry’s natural empathy, this enchanting story is a saga to savour. Published throughout most of her adult life, Newberry’s novels were always inspired by her own family’s experiences and this charming, drama-filled novel certainly packs in all the wisdom and heartfelt emotions that were the trademarks of her writing. And with the added bonus of a tasty, authentic recipe for gammon and pease pudding to try out, Newberry’s heartwarming story is a wonderfully nostalgic read for dark winter evenings.
(Zaffre, paperback, £7.99) 

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day

Milly Johnson 

AS dark clouds hang menacingly over Christmas celebrations this year, escape into the wintertime world created by Milly Johnson, the Barnsley author whose warm-hearted stories are the perfect match for her hearty Yorkshire humour.

There can be no better way to get ready for the season of family, friendship and togetherness than in the company of the queen of eternal optimism and feel-good fiction… a worldwide bestselling novelist who has turned clever rom-coms into a very special art form.

Johnson, winner of the 2020 Romantic Novelists’ Association Outstanding Achievement Award, is loved for her stories that blend heartfelt emotions with laugh-out-loud humour, gritty reality with gorgeous romance, and moments of sheer magic with the downright prosaic. And she’s back with what she (and her ecstatic readers!) reckon is her best book yet… a festive-themed, big-hearted feast bursting with love, laughter, tears, a small cast of perfectly drawn characters that readers will love as much as their own best friends, and lots and lots of snow.

ROM-COM QUEEN: Milly Johnson

It’s the day before Christmas Eve and it’s snowing hard across the Yorkshire Moors. Bridge Winterman is driving to a country house hotel to meet her soon to be ex-husband, Luke Palfreyman, to sign the final divorce papers before Christmas.

But when the weather suddenly turns into ‘a nuclear winter,’ Bridge changes course and ends up at the Figgy Hollow Inn, an attractive old pub nestling in a tiny hamlet in the middle of nowhere.

Only problem is that it’s locked and no one is at home but with the help of a screwdriver and a dubious past, Bridge lets herself in and manages to let Luke know where she is before her phone signal dies.

Luke, meanwhile, is not surprised that the meet-up with Bridge is not going well… she is ‘a walking jinx’ and living with her was like being in ‘a whirlpool full of piranhas’ compared to the even flow of his days with new girlfriend Carmen. Even before Luke arrives, two more travellers turn up, seeking sanctuary from the blizzard. PA Mary Padgett is driving her boss, Jack Butterly, owner of a successful scone-making company, to meet a client but they have also been blown off course.

Mary has been trying to get hard-working, hard-nosed Jack to notice her for four years, but he can only see the efficient PA she is at work. Mary knows that underneath his steely veneer is someone lonely, vulnerable and sad and she could be just what he needs to melt the ice.

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Last to seek sanctuary at Figgy Hollow are married couple, Charlie and Robin, who have shared a happy life together (even if ‘gentle squabbling’ has been part of their 32-year relationship’s DNA) and were on their way to a luxury hotel in Scotland for a very special Christmas, until the

CHILDREN'S BOOKS: Fantasy, fairy tales and festive fun in a fabulous line-up

There is a winter wonderland of fantastic children’s books to enjoy this Christmas whether that is stories from yesteryear, fresh and funny new adventures, or wonderful gift books to inform, entertain and educate

 Age 8 plus
The Marvellous Land of Snergs

Veronica Cossanteli

A FORGOTTEN children’s classic story from almost one hundred years ago gets a fresh, funny and quirky new take in a delightful retelling by imaginative writer Veronica Cossanteli. The Marvellous Land of Snergs, E.A. Wyke-Smith’s fantasy tale from 1927 which is widely recognised as the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, springs to vivid life again in the capable hands of Cossanteli, author of The Extincts and The Halloweeds, and illustrator Melissa Castrillón.

The book, with its delightful contemporary twist, has been written with spirit of the original and has been supported by the family of Wyke-Smith, an English adventurer, mining engineer and writer.

At the Sunny Bay Home for Superfluous and Accidentally Parentless Children, Pip and Flora are in trouble. Running away with their new-found puppy, they discover the Marvellous Land of Snergs, a magical world of cinnamon bears and scrumptious feasts. But the Marvellous Land of Snergs is also one of vegan ogres, disgraced jesters and dastardly Kelps, and is home to a villain dressed entirely in purple. Soon their only friend is forgetful but lovable snerg Gorbo. He will lead them home… if they can decide where home really is, and if Gorbo can remember how to get there.

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Expect exciting adventures, strange but kindly creatures, bags of fun, and a compassionate moral message that teaches us not to judge on appearances. As Miss Watkyns, principal of the Sunny Bay Home for Superfluous and Accidentally Parentless Children, so rightly points out, ‘There is more than one side to every heart. What matters is, which side do you allow to rule you?’ A clever story with a big heart!
(Chicken House, paperback, £6.99)

Age 9 plus
The World’s Most Magnificent Machines

David Long and Simon Tyler

MANKIND'S love affair with technology and machines has spawned some exceptional – and sometimes bizarre – feats of engineering and ingenuity. And now you can take a tour of some of the world’s most amazing machines from the comfort of your armchair in a fascinating new book from historian, writer and Blue Peter award-winning author David Long.

This beautifully illustrated and thrilling round-up of 32 of the best magnificent machines from across history explores machines that were designed to drive faster, fly higher, carry more cargo or – in the case of space rockets – travel thousands of miles to places where no one has ever been before.

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When Karl Benz built the world’s first automobile more than 130 years ago, he couldn’t possibly have imagined that one day there would be more than a billion motor vehicles zooming around on roads that stretch for millions of miles.

Not every idea has worked and a few have been outlandish, but the best have been inspired and inspirational, and in a few cases they have gone on to change the world. From rockets that can fly at more than 20,000mph to a motorbike with only one wheel, from the longest ship ever built to the heaviest digger, and from the largest jet aeroplane to the world’s first working motorcar and most expensive one, what machines like these have in common is that they all say a lot about the inventiveness and imagination of the people who conceived and created them.

Sumptuously illustrated throughout by Simon Tyler’s atmospheric artwork, The World’s Most Magnificent Machines offers a wealth of fascinating technical stats and finely drawn blueprints alongside Long’s trademark humour, erudition and insight to the very human stories that went into making these marvellous machines. A gift book made in mechanical heaven!
(Faber & Faber, hardback, £20)

Age 9 plus
Music: A Fold-Out Graphic History

Nicholas O’Neill, Susan Hayes
and Ruby Taylor

UNFOLD a world of amazing music, and the extraordinary people who make music, in a stunning new book to mark next year’s 150^th anniversary of London’s Royal Albert Hall.

With its unique 2.5 metre fold-out timeline through 60,000 years of music – from prehistoric flutes through Mozart and Beethoven to Louis Armstrong and Beyoncé – this is a musical armchair journey like no other.

Published in a partnership between What on Earth Books and the Royal Albert Hall, which was opened in 1871 to fulfil Prince Albert’s vision of a central hall to promote the arts and sciences, this is a fabulous wide-ranging and diverse exploration of musical genres, times and topics.

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Music: A Fold-Out Graphic History can be read as a book or folded out into a two-sided, 2.5 metre timeline, allowing readers to either dive into individual, fascinating stories or zoom out for the big picture. It covers music across the world and across time, from Confucius’s favourite instrument in ancient China to the creation of Myspace and YouTube.

Learn about how different genres started including classical, folk, jazz, gospel, rock ’n’ roll, country, punk, grunge and pop. Explore the histories of music linked to particular cultures or regions including indigenous American, Asian, and African music, Son Cubano and Caribbean styles, and Australian bush music. Discover the stories of music maestros from around the world including Chinese musician Wei Liangfu, Handel and Bach, Stravinsky, Gershwin, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, and Nina Simone.

Ideal for curious youngsters and musicians of any age, and with an accompanying Spotify playlist, all the family can listen along together.
(What on Earth Books, hardback, £14.99)

Age 9 plus
Trouble in a Tutu

Helen Lipscombe 

BUDDING ballerinas are called to the barre again in the second book of the thrilling Swan House Ballet School series which blends dancing divas with daring espionage escapades. Billed as Ballet Shoes meets Murder Most Unladylike, these mystery adventures are the work of Welsh-born author Helen Lipscombe who admits that her own ballet career went down a plug-hole when she was only six.

But fortunately for young readers, she wasn’t prepared to linger forlornly in the wings and her grand jeté into the world of children’s fiction is proving to be a big hit with budding sleuths, and perfectly in step with all would-be ballerinas.

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In Trouble in a Tutu, we meet up again with Milly Kydd who can’t wait to be back at Swan House. As a secret school for spies, it’s anything but ordinary. And when Milly, her famous ballerina mum, Eva Kydd, and her glamorous but eccentric Russian grandmother/babushka Bab head to the Nutcracker for a Christmas treat, their evening ends in disaster.

A dangerous trickster who calls himself ‘the Mouse King’ is playing a deadly game with Swan House and the ballet school is put on high alert. As Milly navigates her second term and becomes determined to unmask the villain, she starts to suspect there is more to the new Head of Ballet and his perfect daughter than meets the eye ... but is jealousy clouding her judgment? 

Packed with themes of friendship, rivalry, jealousy and confidence, and the added extra of exciting twists and turns, pirouettes and pliés, Trouble in a Tutu is a triumphant return to Swan House, the place where students learn the disciplined art of ballet alongside the stealth skills of a spy. The next act can’t come soon enough!
(Chicken House, paperback, £6.99)

Age 7 plus
Pippi Longstocking Goes Aboard

Written by Astrid Lindgren
and illustrated by Lauren Child

NOSTALGIA really is what it’s cracked up to be in this utterly captivating, 75^th anniversary gift edition of an adventure starring Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking, the eccentric girl who been bewitching readers down the decades.

Some storybook characters never age and Pippi – who just happens to be an amazing rebel role model – is back to win the hearts and minds of another generation thanks to her timeless, fun-filled escapades, a sparkling new translation by Susan Beard, and the striking collage artwork of award-winning author and illustrator Lauren Child.

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Lindgren, who died in 2002, grew up at a farm in the south of Sweden. She began her writing career in 1944 after she won a children’s book competition, with Pippi Longstocking appearing a year later. She published more than one hundred books in her lifetime and is still the most popular children’s author in Sweden. Various Oxford University Press editions over the years have ensured return appearances for this best-loved, irrepressible supergirl so that youngsters can enjoy Pippi’s mischievous escapades and her addictive warmth and joie-de-vivre which never fails to enchant youngsters of every age.

In Pippi Longstocking Goes Aboard, first published in Sweden in 1946, we join Pippi at Villa Villekulla where she lives with a horse, a monkey, and a big suitcase full of gold coins. Pippi and her friends, Tommy and Annika, have the best time together, going to the fair, buying ALL the sweets in the sweet shop, and getting shipwrecked for the weekend. But the fun might stop all too soon if Pippi agrees to go back to sea with her father.

A glorious celebratory tribute to the strongest girl in the world in her 75th anniversary year, and a magical introduction to the weird and wonderful world of Pippi!
(Oxford University Press, hardback, £20)

Age 6 plus
A Dancer’s Dream

Katherine Woodfine and Lizzy Stewart

TCHAIKOVSKY'S two-act ballet, The Nutcracker, which was first performed in St Petersburg in 1892, has become a perennial favourite… but it wasn’t always the case. Following that first performance, the ballet received mixed reviews from the critics but, after Walt Disney used some of the Nutcracker music in his animated film Fantasia in 1940, it became one of the best-loved ballets of all time.

And now young readers can discover the true story behind the ballet in this gorgeous picture book which has been beautifully retold for younger readers by Lancaster author Katherine Woodfine and brought to life by the dazzling illustrations of Lizzy Stewart. The story of The Nutcracker is loosely based on the E.T.A. Hoffmann fantasy story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King and features a student ballerina called Stana who befriends a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve and wages a battle against the evil Mouse King.

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Set in a snow-covered St Petersburg, here we meet Stana at Christmas time as her dreams have finally come … she has been chosen to play Clara, the lead role in Tchaikovsky’s new ballet, The Nutcracker. But with all eyes looking at her, can Stana overcome her nerves, forget her haunting nightmare about the evil Mouse King and dance like she has never danced before? This sumptuous and magical retelling – accompanied by pages of full colour illustrations and gorgeous double-page spreads – transports young readers on a journey far beyond the page and behind the wings of one of the world’s most famous ballets. A dream read for all young ballerinas!
(Simon & Schuster, hardback, £14.99)

Age 4 plus
David Roberts’ Delightfully Different Fairy Tales

David Roberts and 
Lynn Roberts-Maloney

OVER the last ten years, renowned illustrator David Roberts and his author sister Lynn Roberts-Maloney have sold nearly 60,000 copies of their delightfully different fairy tale series… and it’s easy to see why! The talented siblings have teamed up to produce an imaginative, highly original and captivating twist on classic stories with galleries of richly detailed illustrations which hark back to days gone by, or whizz forward a thousand years to a world of robots and flying saucers.

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And now this stunning treasury of fairy tales with a difference – feminist, sparky and set in different decades of the 20th century – with glorious illustrations of funky clothes and recognisable settings, is set to be a very special gift this Christmas. This beautifully produced and stylish collection of familiar fairy tales includes a feminist Sleeping Beauty, set in the 1950s (and 2950s), in a story populated entirely by women and girls (no princes needed here!), a groovy 1970s Rapunzel whose friend plays in a rock band, and a 1920s-set art deco Cinderella with flapper girls and a fashion-conscious fairy godmother.

Children will love the retro charm of Lynn Roberts-Maloney’s enchanting and stylish reworkings while David Roberts’ charismatic illustrations bring visual life and vigour to stories packed with danger, daring, humour and adventure. Feminine power, unbreakable friendship, loyalty, drama and emotion all take leading roles in this unforgettable compendium and visual and verbal storytelling magic.
(Pavilion Books, hardback, £12.99)

Age 4 plus
Little Audrey’s Daydream:
The Life of Audrey Hepburn

Written by Sean & Karin Hepburn Ferrer and illustrated by Dominique Corbasson & François Avril

LONG before film and fashion icon, and global humanitarian ambassador Audrey Hepburn became one of the world’s most famous women, she dreamt of becoming a ballerina amidst the harsh realities of wartime Europe. And now young readers can capture her spirit of determination and hope in difficult times in Little Audrey’s Daydream, a dazzling and empowering picture book written by her son and daughter-in-law, Sean and Karin Hepburn Ferrer, and evocatively illustrated by François Avril and the legendary Dominique Corbasson who died in 2018.

British-born Audrey Hepburn, who died in 1993, was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend in Golden Age Hollywood, and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame, but she was also awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

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And following in the footsteps of his mother’s incredible humanitarian legacy, Sean Hepburn Ferrer and his wife Karen are donating all of their author proceeds from the book to EURORDIS, the Voice of Rare Disease Patients in Europe.

A beautiful, personal introduction to the life of Audrey Hepburn, this extraordinary story unfolds during her childhood in Holland, where her happy life of ice-skating and dancing changes with the harsh realities of the Second World War. Facing dire circumstances during the Occupation, Audrey and her family often don’t have enough to eat but despite the challenges, Audrey never loses hope that her dreams can still come true and when the war ends, her real-life story of fame, family, and charity work unfolds. Wonderful and whimsical, Little Audrey’s Daydream is the perfect gift for all Audrey Hepburn fans, and a beautiful introduction to her amazing life for younger readers.
(Princeton Architectural Press, hardback, £14.99)

Age 3 plus
Peas on Earth

Jonny Marx and Lindsey Sagar

HERE'S a pea-super treat for little ones hungry for Christmas! Jonny Marx provides the romping rhyme and Lindsey Sagar adds the sweet and tasty illustrations for a cracking Christmas countdown story that will delight young learners who are just beginning to practise their numbers.

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Follow five excited little festive peas who can’t wait to celebrate the countdown to Christmas and along the way enjoy merry peep-through pages, touchy-feely ‘pea’ board pieces and a feast-of-fun finale. Perfect for reading aloud as Christmas celebrations reach boiling point!
(Little Tiger Press, board book, £6.99)

Age 3 plus
Can You Find Santa’s Pants?

Becky Davies and Alex Willmore 

IT'S almost Christmas but one thing is missing… Santa’s underpants! The festive season is ‘pants’ for Father Christmas in Becky Davies and Alex Willmore’s bare-cheeked picture book which is packed with merry rhymes, mistletoe and mischief.

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It’s Christmas Eve, and Santa is putting on his snuggly red suit. But hang on... where are his pants? He can’t deliver Christmas with a bare bottom! Youngsters will love searching through mountains of toys and piles of presents to find Santa’s underwear and save Christmas. Davies’ Christmas cracker caper springs to glorious life as Willmore works his magic with his picture perfect gallery of gigglesome characters and anarchic antics. The perfect gift for your own little mischief-makers!
(Little Tiger Press, paperback, £6.99)

Age 3 plus
The Snowiest Christmas Ever!

Jane Chapman

JOIN a family of bears as they discover that getting snowed in is the best fun ever! Author and illustrator Jane Chapman is on top form in a clever, cute and comical picture book that is ideal for the run-up to the Christmas season.

It’s Christmas time and snowflakes swirl around the bears’ cosy cabin. ‘Yippee!’ cheer the bear cubs. ‘More snow! More snow!’ Little cub Button wishes that it would snow forever and sure enough, the snow gets deeper… and deeper. But soon it’s right up to the windows and Button starts to worry that her wish was a big mistake. Will it ever stop?

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Filled with Chapman’s warm and evocative illustrations, cute characters and humorous, fun-filled storylines, this is a reassuring celebration of wintertime, family life, and the loving hugs of a parent. An affectionate and madcap story will delight readers both young and old.
(Little Tiger Press, paperback, £6.99)

Age 2 plus
Can’t See Santa!

Mandy Archer and Chris Jevons

SANTA Claus is coming to town… or is he? It’s Christmas Eve, songs are echoing down the hall and a little Mouse is looking everywhere for Santa! There are partygoers popping up all over the place but still no sign of Santa. There’s only one place he should be if he wants Santa to bring his presents… fast asleep!

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With over 40 intriguing flaps to lift, Mandy Archer’s enchanting rhyme, Chris Jevons’ adorable illustrations, and a super-surprise ending, this funny, festive board book is brimming with atmosphere and charm… and while not guaranteed to keep children asleep, will certainly keep them entertained for hours.
(Little Tiger Press, board book, £8.99)

Age 2 plus
The Night the Reindeer Saved Christmas

Raj Kaur Khaira and Kasia Nowowiejska

IF you always imagined reindeers used their ‘manpower’ to pull Santa’s sledge, you’d better think again. Find out how Santa Claus met his team of decidedly female reindeer in a funny, festive and feminist picture book from the top team of author Raj Kaur Khaira and illustrator Kasia Nowowiejska. Full of fun, some fascinating facts and a diverse cast of characters, The Night the Reindeer Saved Christmas was inspired by the little known fact that Father Christmas’s reindeer are female, as only female reindeer keep their antlers during the winter.

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It’s almost Christmas Eve and the rockets on Mr Claus’s sleigh have exploded! With just hours to go, Mr Claus sets out to find a creature that can help him deliver Christmas gifts across the world. The polar bears are strong, but they’re too sleepy. The narwhal whales are fast, but the presents get too wet. The reindeer might just be the perfect creature to help, especially when Mr Claus discovers that the females with their antlers have a secret... they can fly! 

Packed full of Nowowiejska’s brilliantly busy and brightly coloured illustrations, this charming picture book is not just a happy Christmas celebration but a perfect example of how female power can often fly in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
(Studio Press, paperback, £6.99)

Age one plus
Who Said Merry Christmas?

Yi-Hsuan Wu 

WHO put the ho ho ho into Christmas? Enjoy a board book full of festive guessing games and touchy-feely magic as illustrator Yi-Hsuan Wu has fun with a cast of adorable characters.

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Did Mrs Claus say tweet and did the snowman roar? Little ones will love solving the mystery as they lift the peep-through flaps and touch the pages to find out which Christmas character really makes each noise. With funny pairings, touchy-feely pages and a surprise mirror ending to put little readers in focus, this gorgeous book will be a hands-on hit in the run-up to Christmas!
(Little Tiger Press, board book, £6.99)

The Happiest Man on Earth: The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor

Eddie Jaku

‘Life can be beautiful if you
 make it beautiful. It is up to you.’

AUSCHWITZ survivor Eddie Jaku has lived for a century and knows what it’s like to stare evil in the face… so why does he consider himself to be the happiest man on Earth?

If the year of Covid-19 has dented your optimism and made you fear for the future, take a leaf out of the remarkable Eddie’s inspirational memoir and discover his moving, timely and powerful messages about the malignant nature of hatred, and the force for good that comes from gratitude, tolerance and kindness.

Eddie, a German-born Jew who was incarcerated in the two deadly concentration camps of Buchenwald and Auschwitz, and survived against the odds, found a new life in Australia after the war and for decades never talked about his Holocaust experiences because, if truth be known, he was still hurting from losing almost everyone he had ever loved. But, through the years of happy marriage to his wife Flore, fatherhood and on to the joys of being a grandparent, the urge to tell his story grew stronger inside Eddie until the time came when he felt he had a duty to help educate the world about the dangers of hate.

Born in Leipzig in East Germany in 1920, Abraham Salomon Jakuowicz, later known as Eddie Jaku, sprung from a hardworking family that considered themselves ‘Germans first, Germans second, and then Jewish.’ Their religion did not seem as important as being good citizens and young Eddie was proud of his country. But his life changed forever in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power and brought with him a fierce wave of anti-Semitism.

INSPIRATIONAL: Eddie Jaku

Following in his engineer father’s footsteps, Eddie had a gift for all things mechanical and when he was turned out of school for being Jewish, he continued his engineering studies at another college under a false name and learned skills that would one day make him useful to his captors, and mean the difference between death and survival.

In November of 1938, when the Nazis went on the deadly, destructive rampage which became known as Kristallnacht, Eddie witnessed their once ‘civilised’ friends, neighbours and colleagues commit atrocities and become their ‘sworn enemies.’ On the same night that he stopped being proud to be German, 18-year-old Eddie was beaten, arrested, separated from his beloved parents and sister, and taken to the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp.

He was now a prisoner in a country transformed… a country with ‘no morals, no respect, no human decency’ and over the next seven years, Eddie faced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, and later on the infamous Nazi Death March near the end of the war when the Soviet army began its liberation of Poland and prisoners were frantically moved out of camps to be used as forced labour.

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Eddie escaped from the march and was rescued by Allied soldiers but he had lost family, friends, his country and learned early on that if he could ‘survive one more day, an hour, a minute, then the pain would end and tomorrow would come.’

And because he did survive, Eddie, who moved to Australia in 1950, made the vow to smile every day, and has been sharing his wisdom at the Sydney Jewish Museum where he has volunteered

In Cold Blood

Jane Bettany

EVERY house has its own secret history… and some things are best left hidden. But when the Whitworth twins begin renovation work on a house they have bought in the small Derbyshire town of Bainbridge, a body under soil in the back garden definitely isn’t a secret that can remain buried.

Fans of Ann Cleeves’ fictional detective Vera will find plenty to love in Jane Bettany’s gripping debut crime series starring DI Isabel Blood, a fifty-something sleuth who juggles motherhood and domestic duties with the high-pressure job of running a murder squad.

The refreshingly middle-aged and pleasingly competent Isabel was born out of the 2019 Gransnet and HQ writing competition, awarded to women writers over the age of 40 who pen a novel with a protagonist in the same age range. Bettany – who writes and teaches, runs a publishing and communications company, and loves helping people to share their stories and find their writing voice – took the laurels with this gripping whodunit which features a fascinating new female crime-fighter at the helm of a thrilling fast-paced murder mystery.

Twins Amy and Paul Whitworth have invested their joint family inheritance in a rundown detached house in Bainbridge with a scheme that involves doing some renovations, extending the kitchen, selling the property, and then moving on to their next money-making project.

GRIPPING DEBUT: Jane Bettany

But their plans are brought to an abrupt end when they discover a body buried in the back garden. Forced to leave her teenage daughter’s parents evening, DI Isabel Blood and her team are called to investigate, but as she approaches Ecclesdale Drive, a feeling of unease settles in her gut. The property cordoned off is number 23… the house she used to live in as a child.

The forensic team estimate that the body has been in the ground for up to forty years, coinciding with the time that only child Isabel lived with her parents at the house. She immediately informs her team that she once lived there, but what she omits to say is that her father vanished from the house without a trace when she was fourteen years old. His sudden disappearance left her with ‘an ache that was chronic and incurable’ and as her mother, who now lives in Spain, is still tight-lipped and ‘cagey’ about her father’s disappearance, Isabel can’t escape the unnerving sense of dread that maybe, just maybe, it’s his body buried in the garden…

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Possessing a wisdom and confidence which comes from both age and experience, Isabel is an intriguing and likeable police detective as her own troubled childhood plays out against a complex

The Christmas Invitation

Trisha Ashley

RAISED on an isolated Welsh mountain commune, Meg Harkness has never experienced a ‘proper’ Christmas… but this year looks set to be a cracker in more ways than one!

The run-up to the festive season just got an extra injection of sparkle with an invitation to cosy up with a witty and wonderful winter warmer from Lancashire-born author Trisha Ashley, the much-loved queen of funny, feel-good rom-coms.

A beguiling blend of dark Lancashire humour, heartwarming romance, the finest foods, and characters so quirky, lovable and exquisitely portrayed that they become your own friends (or enemies!), are just some of the many reasons why Ashley’s clever comedies have won her an army of fans.

And this Christmas, we return to the bracing moorland air and rural charms around Ashley’s home town of St Helens for a tasty confection of love games, mystery and intrigue – and a side helping of skulduggery to spice up the Yuletide drama.

Portrait painter Meg is definitely not in the Christmas mood. After years spent with her adopted ‘spiritual’ grandfather, River, who only observes pagan festivals at his commune in the remote Black Mountains of Wales, Meg has never gone in for tinsel, baubles and mistletoe.

FESTIVE SPARKLE:
Trisha Ashley

This Christmas she is feeling particularly low after a spell in hospital with pneumonia… but when she is invited to spend the run-up to Christmas in the snowy countryside of Lancashire, rather than her home in wet and dreary London, she can’t refuse.

Eccentric crime novelist Clara Mayhem Doome and her husband Henry, a renowned poet, have commissioned Meg to paint their portraits and are keen to have her stay at their home, which is perched on an isolated hilltop.

Arriving at the warm and cosy Red House, which Clara and Henry share with their great nephew Teddy, Meg soon falls under its spell and begins to wonder what a real Christmas might be like. But just as she is beginning to settle in, she spots a familiar and unwelcome face… Lex Mariner, Clara’s nephew and Meg’s ex-boyfriend from college days. Meg and Lex share ‘old wounds’ that are still raw for both of them, and the animosity is almost visible. Despite the festive cheer, Meg suddenly wants nothing more than to get as far away from him, and their past secrets, as she can. But if she stays, could this be the year she finally discovers the magic of Christmas…

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Ashley certainly knows how to please her audience and there are some unforgettable, larger-than-life characters – not least the irrepressible, avuncular Clara – and lots of show-stealing moments in this joyous Christmas package of reading delights.

With some familiar names from past novels, a storyline brimming with warm insight and wry observations on human frailties and foibles, and delicious recipes to tickle everyone’s taste buds, this is the perfect starter to the festive season.
(Black Swan, paperback, £7.99)

CHILDREN'S BOOKS: Enjoy a winter wonderland of Christmas children’s books

Make your child’s Christmas extra special this year with a glittering array of books which are guaranteed to make the whole family smile

Age 7 plus
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland

Written by Lewis Carroll and illustrated by Chris Riddell

TAKE Lewis Carroll’s eternally enchanting classic tale of Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, bring them to life with the unique illustrations of the talented Chris Riddell, and you have this year’s dream gift book for readers of every age.

First published by Macmillan in 1865, Carroll’s iconic story – starring one the most popular female characters in English literature – has been loved and enjoyed by generations of children, and this sumptuous hardback, gold-foiled and jacketed edition is brimming with Riddell’s gloriously imaginative colour illustrations. And Costa Award- and Kate Greenaway Medal-winner Riddell certainly works his creative magic on this stunning edition which has been published in celebration of the 200^th anniversary of the birth of the book’s original illustrator, Sir John Tenniel, who was a cartoonist for Punch.

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And in a pleasing stroke of serendipity, Riddell is also an exceptional artist and political cartoonist for The Observer, creating some of the best loved and instantly recognisable illustrations of the 21^st century. Riddell’s rich and evocative interpretation of Carroll's world brings new light and life to Alice’s memorable journey of trials and tribulations in the company of the charming White Rabbit, the terrifying Queen of Hearts, the intriguing Mad Hatter, the grinning Cheshire Cat, and many other well-known eccentric characters. With a ribbon marker to complete the package, this is the perfect gift for families, children and all fans of an all-time classic.
(Macmillan Children’s Books, hardback, £25)

Age 10 plus
She Will Soar: Bright, brave poems about freedom by women

Ana Sampson 

‘My soul is awakened, my spirit is soaring…’

WHAT better words than Anne Brontë’s to illustrate this stunning gift book featuring 130 inspirational poems about wanderlust, freedom and escape written by an array of talented women down the centuries. She Will Soar comes from bestselling anthologist Ana Sampson whose breathtaking collection of poetry in She is Fierce celebrated the brave, bold, beauty of women’s poetry and inspired a new generation of budding feminists.

And now she turns her eye and ear to the strength and beauty of women’s poetry which has too often been neglected or ignored, giving a welcome voice to a bold choir of women, from frustrated housewives and passionate activists, and from servants and suffragettes to some of today’s most gifted writers, all shouting for independence or celebrating their new-found power.

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With works from classic, well-loved poets as well as innovative and bold modern voices, She Will Soar is a stunning collection and includes poems by Carol Ann Duffy, Christina Rossetti, Stevie Smith, Sarah Crossan, Emily Dickinson, Salena Godden, Mary Jean Chan, Charly Cox, Nikita Gill, Fiona Benson, Hollie McNish and Grace Nichols.

Cleverly collated and brimming with the resonant voices of women poets from the ancient past to the present, and from all corners of the globe, these impressively diverse poems are yet more proof that female poets speak loudly and eloquently, and are at the heart of literary life. The perfect gift package for budding poets and all lovers of inspirational verse…
(Macmillan Children’s Books, hardback, £14.99)

Age 9-90
A Poem for Every Winter Day

Edited by Allie Esiri 

AS the season of snow, ice, cosy fireside evenings and Christmas festivities draws near, there could be no better time to celebrate winter than with some of the best and most inspirational poems. Expertly curated by award-winning and bestselling poetry anthologist Allie Esiri, A Poem for Every Winter Day is brimming with verse that will transport readers to sparkling wintry landscapes, from snowy woodland walks to the long-ago journey of the Magi.

The poems have been selected from Esiri’s bestselling poetry anthologies, A Poem for Every Day of the Year and A Poem for Every Night of the Year, and are perfect for reading aloud and sharing with all the family. With a dazzling array of familiar favourites and remarkable new discoveries, these seasonal poems – together with introductory paragraphs – are full of the ever-changing light and darkness of winter, and have a link to the date on which they appear.

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There are two poems for each day of the season, from December 1 right through to February 29, and the work covers a wide range of poets, both traditional and excitingly new, and includes Mary Oliver, Edgar Allan Poe, Thomas Hardy, E. E. Cummings and Robert Burns who sit alongside Joseph Coelho, George the Poet, Benjamin Zephaniah and Jackie Kay.

Esiri is an insightful and sensitive anthologist and her introductions give readers a window into each poem and its relevance to topics like war, religion or simply the joys of the season, making the book ideal for reading aloud and sharing with all the family. Soul-enhancing, comforting, enlightening and uplifting, this is the perfect pick-me-up gift for the year of pandemic.
(Macmillan Children’s Books, paperback, £14.99)

Age 12 plus
Poems to Save the World With

Chosen and illustrated by Chris Riddell

IN a world where happiness and hope have too often been dimmed by the ravages of the pandemic, raise your spirits and find comfort through the panacea of poetry in an inspirational new book from award-winning author, illustrator, political cartoonist and former Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell.

In his follow-up to Poems to Live Your Life By and bestselling anthology Poems to Fall in Love With, Riddell plots a redeeming path of gorgeously illustrated verse through the turbulent, troubled world in which now live. As a new lockdown beckons and more challenges lie ahead, this uplifting new anthology about positivity, activism, and hope during dark days aims to galvanise, offer strength and inspire readers to consider how humanity will heal the wounds that the pandemic has left behind.

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Also designed to ignite your inner activist, these poems speak loudly of hope, happiness, rebellion and living through a pandemic, and feature famous verse, both old and new, and a few surprises… all brought to vivid life by Riddell’s intricate, richly detailed and exquisitely expressive black and white illustrations.

Classic verse from the likes of Emily Dickinson, John Dryden, William Wordsworth and Rudyard Kipling sits comfortably alongside the modern poetry of Neil Gaiman, Nikita Gill, Maggie Smith, Brian Bilston, Raymond Antrobus and Fiona Benson to create the ultimate collection. Covering a whole spectrum of ideas and themes, and with a gallery of breathtaking artwork, this is a feast of words and pictures for nations starved of hope.
(Macmillan Children’s Books, hardback, £12.99)

Age 7 plus
The Iron Man

Ted Hughes and Chris Mould

ENJOY Ted Hughes’ classic, cautionary tale as The Iron Man gets a spectacular new look in this exciting edition which has been brought to vibrant life by award-winning illustrator Chris Mould. A new generation of readers who have maybe not yet met Hughes’ larger-than-life and endlessly fascinating anti-hero will be entranced by Mould’s stunning artwork which captures perfectly the atmosphere and dynamics of the story.

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The Iron Man came to the top of the cliff. Where had he come from? Nobody knows. How was he made? Nobody knows. Mankind must put a stop to the dreadful destruction by the Iron Man and set a trap for him, but he cannot be kept down. One little boy realises that the Iron Man is not here to destroy the Earth and when a terrible monster from outer space threatens to lay waste to the planet, it is the Iron Man who finds a way to save the world.

With resonant messages about not judging on appearances, a story filled with wonder, and a gallery of evocative and eye-catching illustrations, this modern fairy tale is a makeover made perfectly for Christmas giving.
(Faber & Faber, paperback, £9.99)

Age 6 plus
Flags of the World Book and Jigsaw

Sue Meredith, Jos Poels
and Ian McNee

LEARN to recognise the different coloured flags of the world… and have fun while you’re doing it! There won’t be a dull moment on long winter days when youngsters keep their hands and minds busy with this striking 300-piece jigsaw which shows the national flags of every independent country in the world.

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With a 40-page book about flags to browse through and a colourful jigsaw to piece together and discover each country’s flag, there are hours of constructive fun to enjoy. And with each flag labelled, the completed puzzle provides a great learning and memory aid to return to again and again. A gift for all the family to share!
(Usborne book and jigsaw, £9.99)

Age 5 plus
The Twelve Days of Christmas: Grandma is Overly Generous

Alex T. Smith

THE twelve days of Christmas have more of a chaotic ring than the traditional five gold rings in a hilarious, fun-filled seasonal special from creative author illustrator Alex T. Smith. This gorgeously illustrated, warm and witty reimagining of the classic song is rewritten and illustrated by Smith, creator of the Claude series and How Winston Delivered Christmas, and comes packed with festive fun, madcap antics and brilliant eye-catching illustrations.

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On the first day of Christmas my Grandma sent to me… Eloise’s grandma is very generous and sends her a wonderful gift on each day of the twelve days of Christmas. Her presents may start off sensible – she is delighted with her partridge in a pear tree and a partridge is easy enough to take care of – but as the days go by, her generosity soon gets wildly out of hand. With mishaps and misadventures, a wonderful creative twist on an old classic, and bright and bold illustrations to enjoy, this captivating Christmas cracker is the perfect gift for your little ones.
(Macmillan Children’s Books, paperback, £9.99)

Age 3 plus
Counting Creatures

Julia Donaldson and Sharon King-Chai

THERE are gorgeous baby creatures on every page in a thrilling counting book from the nation’s favourite children’s author, Julia Donaldson, and visionary illustrator Sharon King-Chai. This exquisite exploration of numbers, and animals and their young ones, comes with a multitude of ingeniously designed and shaped peep-through pages, as well as visually exciting fold-out flaps, from the top team who created the award-winning Animalphabet.   

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With Donaldson’s delightful signature rhymes, written as a surprise search-and-find game, and all brought to life by King-Chai’s exquisite, eye-catching artwork and an exotic array of birds and animals, this stunning visual and verbal feast of counting is guaranteed to win the hearts of all young readers. From a leopard with her cubs and a wild dog with its pups, to a frog and its tadpoles and an Arctic hare with its leverets, little ones will delight in counting each creature’s babies and seeing where they live. 

King-Chai’s sumptuous, vibrant artwork, the cleverly designed and shaped pages, and Donaldson’s rhythmic words make Counting Creatures a rich learning experience and a delight to read aloud and share.
(Two Hoots, hardback, £14.99)

Age 3 plus
Too Much Stuff

Emily Gravett 

TOO much of a good thing tips the balance into disaster in an outrageously witty and clever picture book from multi-talented author and illustrator Emily Gravett. As Christmas draws near, Gravett – winner of two CILIP Kate Greenaway Medals – works her trademark animal magic on a beautifully imagined, cautionary tale about the dangers of having (or wanting!) too many things.

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Packed with gorgeous illustrations, creative rhymes, and timely messages, Too Much Stuff is set in the same forest as Gravett’s award-winning book Tidy, featuring a host of gorgeous woodland animals, including clean-up king, Pete the badger. Meg and Ash are a pair of magpies who are building a nest for their perfect eggs. Although they begin building their nest using the usual mud, sticks and grass, Meg and Ash are soon convinced that their nest doesn’t have enough stuff and begin to collect more and more things to add to an ever-growing pile. From cuckoo clocks to mops and socks, a pram, a waste bin and even a car, their need for stuff seems endless. Until – crash! – the inevitable happens!

Gravett again she uses her artistic skills, creative imagination and a cast of adoring animals to convey gentle messages to little ones as well as delivering a tasty visual and verbal Christmas treat full of exquisitely detailed artwork, storytelling surprises and laugh-out-loud fun. And with extra special, artistic detail on the book jacket and end pages of this sumptuously produced hardback, this is the perfect gift for the season of giving… and receiving!
(Two Hoots, hardback, £12.99)

Age 3 plus
Santa Sound Book

Sam Taplin and Violeta Dabija

WATCH little faces light up as they hear the world of Santa come to life in this enchanting, illustrated sound book just made for little hands. 

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Step into a night of wintry magic where Christmas music plays, elves crunch through the snow and get busy in the workshop, where Santa reads his letters by a crackling fire and the sleigh whooshes through a starry sky to deliver all those exciting presents. Curious youngsters will adore pressing the buttons and peering through intriguing peep-holes to join Santa and the elves on a night of jingling, jangling Christmas joy!
(Usborne, board book, £12.99)

Age 3 plus
Dinosaur Play Pad

Kirsteen Robson and
Christine Sheldon

KEEP little hands out of mischief this Christmas with a roaringly good dinosaur play pad. With lots of puzzles to get their teeth into, and thirty pictures to colour, youngsters will have fun completing all the dinosaur-themed activities in this practical and sturdy tear-off pad.

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Spot the differences, find and count all kinds of animals, draw paths through mazes, and complete pictures by joining the dots, or drawing over dotted lines. And on the back of each sheet, they can learn about the dinosaurs and colour a simple black and white dinosaur picture. And if they are still eager to learn more, there is even a guide to saying all those dinosaur names. Hours of prehistoric fun!
(Usborne, paperback, £6.99)

Age 2 plus
Lift-the-Flap Play Hide and Seek With Reindeer

Sam Taplin and Gareth Lucas

PLAY hide and seek with a cast of comical creatures in a beautiful, winter-themed, lift-the-flap book. There’s an animal hiding behind each big flap, and some intriguing peep-holes to keep everyone guessing, in this brightly coloured and playful book.

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Little children will love joining Reindeer, Fox, Owl, Squirrel and all the other animals for their game of hide and seek, and there is lots to look at and talk about along the way. With Gareth Lucas’s adorable illustrations and a double fold-out surprise at the end that is guaranteed to get everyone in a flap, Christmas fun starts here!
(Usborne, board book, £7.99)

Age one plus
Supertato Super Squad

Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet

SUPERTATO, the chunky superhero who is always there when the chips are down, is on the boil again in a new, laugh-out-loud mini adventure! This wacky new calorie-consuming caper amongst fridges, friends and foes has been cooked up by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet, the much-loved, award-winning duo whose books have sold over 1.6 million copies to date.

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Supertato Super Squad, which comes in a sturdy, super-tactile board book format with a shorter text and bold artwork, is filled with Hendra and Linnet’s trademark veggie fun, and is guaranteed to be an a-peeling gift for all pre-schoolers. Supertato has enlisted his Super Squad – Pineapple, Carrot, Broccoli and Cucumber – in his plan to stop the Evil Pea from being so naughty. But first, he’s going to need a box, some string and some… cupcakes? What on Earth is Supertato up to?

There could be no better way to introduce little ones to everyone’s favourite swashbuckling spud and with message about kindness, a colourful array of curiously shaped pages, and baby-friendly format, one taste of Supertato will have little ones begging for more!
(Simon & Schuster, board book, £8.99)

Age six months plus
That’s Not My Fairy Book and Toy

Fiona Watt and Rachel Wells

FIVE little fairies are taking flight… and they are heading straight into little ones’ hearts! Get your hands on this gorgeous touchy-feely book and adorably cuddly toy in a bewitching gift set from top children’s publisher Usborne whose much-loved and award-winning That’s not my... series has been a bestseller and a favourite with both parents and children for over 20 years.

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The simple text, bold, colourful illustrations and tactile patches are irresistible to babies and toddlers who love turning the pages and touching the ‘feely’ patches which are specially designed to develop sensory and language awareness

Here we meet five fairies with their shiny dresses, sparkly wands and fluffy wings, and as an added delight, children can cuddle the plush fairy as they listen to the book being read. So let the youngest family members have a hand in all the fun of Christmas as they touch the textured patches, follow the story and look for the little white mouse on every page. A gift guaranteed to fly off the shelves!
(Usborne, board book and toy, £16)

Age from birth
Dear Santa

Rod Campbell

WHAT exciting surprises does Santa have this year? For over thirty-five years, Rod Campbell has been writing and illustrating children’s books and his classic lift-the-flap Dear Zoo has delighted millions of little ones across the world.

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And now 2020 marks the fifteenth anniversary of his Christmas special, Dear Santa, another enchanting book which lets pre-schoolers lift the flaps to discover what gifts Father Christmas has sent… and then find the perfect present at the end. Campbell uses simple, easy-to-follow sentences and bright, bold, appealing artwork to bring to life the wonder of Christmas and the joy of giving, and this chunky new board book edition, with its sturdy pages ideal for little hands, eye-catching gold foil cover, and touch-and-feel surprise ending, is the perfect gift to share and enjoy with your toddlers. A hands-on winner!
(Macmillan Children’s Books , board book, £6.99)

Age from birth
My Magical Snowman

Illustrated by Yujin Shin

CHRISTMAS wouldn’t be Christmas without an inventive board book to let the youngest family members get in on the fun, so let them push, pull and slide the tabs in this gorgeous interactive board book. My Magical Snowman – a playful new adventure in Campbell Books’ exciting My Magical series – lets little ones enter a colourful, snow-filled world and go on an amazing Christmas adventure with a fun-loving snowman.

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Children will love playing with the easy-to-handle mechanisms as they follow the simple, rhyming story, and have fun spotting lots of Christmas characters in four bright and busy magical scenes brought to life by Yujin Shin’s beautifully coloured illustrations. Perfect for little hands and with plenty to talk about on every page, My Magical Snowman provides gentle early learning and a magical introduction to the Christmas season.
(Campbell Books, board book, £5.99)