Lucy & Tom's Christmas (Picture Puffin S.)

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Perhaps it's the spirit of the season that permeates this book, even for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere. I used to read it every Christmas to my children when they were young and now I'm reading it again to my grandchildren. She wrote two novels for older children, Hero on a Bicycle , about a 13-year-old Italian boy during the occupation of Florence, and Whistling in the Dark , set during the Liverpool Blitz. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Shirley Hughes is the illustrator of more than two hundred children’s books and has won many prestigious awards, including the Kate Greenaway Medal twice.

We talk about the differences in the way these children celebrate Christmas in England and they celebrate Christmas in the states. Hughes has a lovely endearing style to her drawing - I will certainly be reading and collecting many other titles from her. I'm sure I get more pleasure from it every year that passes, enjoying the wonderful illustrations and the simple story of a Christmas with family and friends together. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that! The quiet joys of Christmas preparations and the day itself, with great sympathy for a child's perspective.She won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice and was awarded the OBE for her distinguished service to children's literature. It's the first Christmas book I've ever read that showed the children "posting" their letters to Santa by burning them in the fireplace. In 1930s Liverpool, young Bronwen and Dylan find kindness from an unexpected source when they are frightened by what they think is a ghost on Christmas Eve.

Yes, it is set in time, with ethnicity and class embedded, but is for me a beloved classic, and à compassionate and keenly observed account. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. I also love the English flavor of these books, fun to point out expressions like "cross" that may not be so familiar to American children. Lovely time for read aloud with what I think are British traditions of Christmas pudding (Lucy and Tom stir), making cards, how they decorate and even what they give as gifts to each family member.She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was the first recipient of BookTrust's Lifetime Achievement Award. A rubber in the shape of a dog and a ‘smart bow-tie on elastic’ for dad, a ‘comb in a case for Granny with A for Alison on it (because that’s Granny’s name)’ and best of all ‘a pen for Lucy which changes into different colours’. Her first book - Lucy and Tom's Day - was published in 1960, and she followed it with, among others, Dogger, and the Alfie series. Shirley Hughes’s illustrations have the same effect as discovering an old reel of cine film buried in the loft.

The page where we see the presents that Lucy and Tom have both bought for their families raised a particular chuckle of recognition. My boys found it inspirational--and pointed out that we did Christmas crackers earlier in the week rather than at Christmas dinner. This wonderfully evocative Christmas book reminds me so vividly of my own childhood Christmases, with my mother making mince pies at the big wooden kitchen table and the Salvation Army playing Christmas carols.This wonderful heartwarming story was read to me as a child and brings back so many happy memories as I now have the privilege of reading it to my niece. And be sure to check out my bio page to learn a little about me and the Picture Book/Chapter Book Calendars I sell on Etsy!