Christmas Bibliotherapy

The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton (Otter-Barry Books, 7th September 2023)

I first saw this book in a local bookshop back in September and had seen a bit of a buzz about it on social media, so I just had to read it to see what all the fuss was about. Believe everything you may have heard about it. It is a fantastic read. I could not put it down and read it in a couple of hours, stopping only to find a tissue!

Matt Goodfellow draws on his experience as a teacher to produce this beautifully written poetic tale about Nate as he enters the final year of primary school. Nate’s new teacher, Mr Joshua, sees a spark inside of Nate (his love of reading and writing) and shows him how to use this love to process the personal challenges that threaten to unleash Nate’s anger – aka “the beast.”

It is an incredibly powerful novel written in free verse in Nate’s voice which really packs an emotional punch. It will resonate with so many under-represented children who do not live “in a place of Labradors and lattes” and perfectly captures what the crucial transition from Y5 to Y6 feels like.

The illustrations accent the words perfectly and add to this heart-wrenching and uplifting read. I found it hugely affecting and I really don’t think I have read anything quite like it before.

An original, modern, powerful, lyrical story about finding your place in the world and the people that matter within it – “In the darkness, we find our people”.

I will be gifting this book to my friend and colleague who is a Year 5/6 teacher.

Juniper’s Christmas by Eoin Colfer (Harper Collins Children’s Books, 26th October 2023)

We have long been fans of Eoin Colfer’s writing at Literacy Tree and we were so excited when we learnt there was to be a festive offering this year, so we made sure it became part of our Christmas Bibliotherapy.

Juniper’s Christmas doesn’t fail to deliver and has something for everyone: mystery; magic; heroes and villains; Santa; and plenty of reindeers. Santa has given up Christmas for the past nine years but when Juniper, the heroine of the story, stumbles upon Niko at their local park, she realises there’s more to him than meets the eye. She finds herself in a world surrounded by magic in a race against the clock to save Christmas before it’s too late! Add to that, her mum’s gone missing and she must track her down, as well as save the charitable park from closure! Needless to say, what ensues is a magical adventure, full of ‘spangles’ and sparkle that will surely become a new festive classic.

I will be buying this for my eleven-year-old niece who adores Christmas and anything sprinkled with a touch of magic but will also love how up-to-date the characters in this new story feel.

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King’s Christmas Shenanigans by Alex T. Smith (Macmillan children’s books, 5th October 2023)

Any children’s book with the word ‘shenanigans’ in its title is bound to be a little bit daft and packed full of humour, and this latest book by favourite of ours, Alex T Smith (author/illustrator of the Mr Penguin series) is indeed daft. 

The Mouse King, ensconced in his palace made out of ‘the stinkiest’ cheese is spying upon the kingdom… referring to himself as ‘the great Gorgonzola’ he seems to be plotting to disrupt the careful preparations being made for Christmas. With his side-kicks Roquefort and Manchego (there’s definitely a theme here!) he sets off. 

Meanwhile, siblings Fritz and Clara are attending a tedious Christmas Eve party at their home. It’s all grown-ups and - unusually - no sweets. But Father Christmas will soon fill their stockings with treats, right? We’re not so sure!

This is a delightful, modern reimagining of a classic Christmas ballet story that has flamboyant characters; stylish illustrations and bags of fabulous vocabulary.

And if there were to be a staged performance of this adaptation (delivered through the medium of ballet or otherwise) then we’d definitely want to take ourselves our children to see it! I will be gifting this book to my niece and nephew who love music and anything whimsical to cosy up with each night of advent. 

Clive Penguin by Huw Lewis Jones, illustrated by Ben Sanders 

Clive Penguin does not like the cold and has had enough of standing about in it surrounded by penguins, thank you very much!  He wants to be somewhere else. He wants to be someone else. Reaching his limit, he sets out to find his happiness. And there it is, not far away! A discovery in the water promises to give him everything he has dreamed of.  Heading back to the other penguins with his treasure, he has finally found his ‘happily ever after’… or has he?

This book is a humorous commentary on our ability to be absolutely (incorrectly) convinced that the next thing we want is- with certainty- going to change our lives for the better. The book’s delivery is wonderfully and hilariously dry in style. Ben Sanders’ illustrations work brilliantly with Huw Lewis Jones' narrative to accent the humour in the story and Clive’s trademark stare towards the reader gives an air of self-awareness and invites us in on the unfolding joke.

I would recommend this book for anyone with a dry, witty sense of humour and fans of Jon Klassen’s books. I would particularly recommend it for children in upper Key Stage 1 and lower Key Stage 2. I will be gifting it to my friend’s daughter this year.

Tales from Shakespeare by Michael Morpurgo (Harper Collins Children’s Books, 23rd September 2023)

We are huge fans of Michael Morpurgo and have included many of his wonderful books in our Curriculum Maps and book recommendations over the years. We particularly love his approach to retelling old stories and updating them in his own words, stories such as Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf are amongst some of our favourites. Tales from Shakespeare is a tour de force example of appropriating old stories and retelling them for a new generation of children. As Benedict Cumberbatch writes in his introduction:

“Sir Michael Morpurgo was born in 1943. Like me, he grew up reading Charles and Mary Lamb’s ‘Tales from Shakespeare’, and when he became a teacher and a writer, he began to fully understand the importance of engaging young readers, especially in Shakespeare,”

Ten of Shakespeare’s plays are included here: comedies such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, tragedies such as King Lear and Macbeth as well as the history play, Henry V. It is also worth mentioning that this is available as an audiobook with stella performances from a cast of actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company. There are varied and gorgeous illustrations throughout from a range of illustrators. I particularly loved Joelle Avelino’s illustrations for Taming of the Shrew.

I would strongly recommend this book as a gift for children in Key Stage 2…perhaps to those who are transitioning to secondary school and want to enjoy these stories before studying them more in depth later on.

The Boy who Brought the Snow by Hollie Hughes (Bloomsbury Children’s Books 12th October 2023)

This heart-warming tale is the latest offering from Hollie Hughes, following in the steps of the much-loved The Girl and the Dinosaur and The Heart of a Giant, which have both been firm bedtime favourites in our house.

Hughes’ beautiful rhyming narrative style returns in The Boy who Brought the Snow, another pairing with talented illustrator Anna Wilson.  In it, we follow the story of Quinn, a young boy whose family have found themselves without a home. Sleeping on a bench in a bustling city street where nobody stops to notice them, Quinn spies a glowing snow globe of the city including a little boy just like him, on a bench alone.  Shaking the snow globe unfurls magic in the city and snowflake by snowflake, the people of the city remember how to care again.

With stunning illustrations awash with numerous small details to unpick, each page is a delight to share and discover.  Prompting questions and discussions around homelessness, gratitude and community this festive season, The Boy Who Brought the Snow is a joy to share and now a top contender for my four-year-old daughter’s much-coveted bedside table spot.  Secret Santa will be gifting this to one of her friends this year!  

The Star Whale by Nicola Davies and Petr Horáček (Otter-Barry Books Limited, 14th September 2023)

So many times we mention a book’s illustrator as an afterthought to the author’s words: The stunning illustrations work in perfect harmony… The author’s poetic storytelling combines perfectly with the enchanting illustrations… (all my own words in fact, from previous reviews).  So it was wonderful to discover the partnership between Nicola Davies and Petr Horáček where inspiration flows the other way around. Both being lovers of the natural world, this time it was Petr’s perpetual doodles and observations of the world around him filling countless sketchbook pages which inspired Nicola’s creativity.

In her own words, ‘So many of the pictures seemed to be the start of stories or conversations…I simply looked at them and let my mind do what it wanted’.  The result is this striking large format hardback which takes us on a wonderful journey through real and imagined lands via rhyming couplets, playful narratives and passionate prose, all inspired by the wanderings of Petr’s pencil. Along the way we encounter a Monday morning mandrill, meet the morning raven and spot the titular star whale ‘in the slow gulf stream of galaxies, swallowing the plankton of the stars.’ With so much to explore on each page, this beautiful collection will inspire both the wildest imagination and the deepest contemplation for any young naturalist.  Perhaps, as with Petr and Nicola, children could create their own artworks which then ignite the spark of imagination for their own poetic exploration.

The perfect gift for any child with a love for the natural world and the creativity to see the beauty in the smallest and the largest of things on this wonderful earth.

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell (Bloomsbury Children's Books 14 Sept. 2023)

We love lists at Literacy Tree. However, occasionally a book comes along that feels like it does not belong on any list. Impossible Creatures by Kathryn Rundell is one such publication which also somehow makes the reader feel that is beyond even being a book.  There’s no doubt our world needs fantasy right now and Rundell delivers a sensational epic world, steeped in mythology with an offering that is a veritable cornucopia of mythical beasts. To scene-set the world, the book opens with a bestiary - a literary hinterland of fantastic creatures - and also provides our favourite opening to any narrative in a fictional world; an exquisitely detailed map to pore over and pick apart.

Rundell has spoken about the need to provide darkness in children’s literature so children can find the light and there are some big dark ideas in this book that plunge you into peril immediately as a reader. We start in the Scottish Highlands where Christopher, a young orphan, catapults himself into a magical kingdom that is a parallel world called The Archipelago.  It is here that he teams up with a girl called Mal, whose coat gives her the power of flight, but who is being pursued by a murderer - and she in turn is in pursuit of a griffin!

As the pair embark upon a quest there is something of an odyssey in going from one land to another and the characters they encounter along the way are both magical and marvellous. From a herd of unicorns to a sphinx, we particularly loved the realisation that creatures are mythical according to what land you come from!

Climate change and extinction are big themes in this book and this makes this fantasy feel relevant in the modern world. Rundell’s love of the natural world is beautifully portrayed through her storytelling and it is clear that creatures are seen to be miracles; each species is a wonder. Despite the depth within this book, its short chapters and rich description make it easily digestible (edible even!) This book will be gifted to a friend with a ten-year-old who still likes to sit and share a story in the evening and though this is an innovative and original new mythology, it paves the way for future readings of Pullman and Tolkien, and as we know this is the first of a planned trilogy we know that the future is thrilling.

Norah’s Ark by Victoria Williamson (Neem Tree Press 29th  August 2023)

Norah Day loves animals. From her pet spider Boris to the orphaned fledglings she stumbles upon in the local park, there is no creature that Norah will not go out of her way to look after and care for. However, her dream of owning her own pet (other than Boris) seems like an impossible fantasy, as Norah and her dad live in temporary accommodation and experience recurring financial insecurity, often relying on food banks when dad’s benefits aren’t processed correctly.

Adam’s life feels a million miles away from Norah’s. Living in a large house that backs on to the park and educated by a private tutor at home, it may seem at first glance that he has it easy. But Adam is in fact experiencing deep feelings of loss and loneliness as he recovers from a cancer that could have ended his life.

When Adam and Norah’s lives collide, we enter into a beautiful and surprising tale of bravery, hope and ultimately friendship deftly told through their alternating perspectives.

I will be gifting this brilliant and hugely important book to my many wonderful teacher friends working in Key Stage 2, many of whom teach in areas of high deprivation and understand the immense power of a book in communicating to all children that they, and their experiences, are seen, heard and valued.

Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf by Craig Barr-Green and Francis Martin (Little Tiger, 7th September 2023)

Gina Kaminski sees the world differently, but sometimes that makes school difficult.  It is too noisy, too hot and too smelly.  When she is given respite from the classroom with a visit to the library, she reads Little Red Riding Hood.   Gina doesn’t like the wolf’s bad ending and can see exactly where it goes wrong for him.  Using her clear, logical thinking, she decides to enter the book and fix the three mistakes (The Cake, The Shortcut, The Wolf), in order to save him.

This book is great! The illustrations and use of a range of font sizes, typefaces and emojis make it engaging and fun.  The familiar school and fairy tale worlds are both settings that children will understand and be able to relate to.  But what makes it really special is the way in which Gina Kaminski’s unique way of thinking saves the day and makes her the hero of the hour.  It is both an entertaining and empowering read, reminding us that we can challenge both fictional and real-life narratives.  

I will be gifting this book to my friend’s son this year, to remind him that the world needs all kinds of superheroes!