A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas and Peter Bailey
| A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas and Peter Bailey | |
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| Category: Children's Non-Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Steve Shayler
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| Summary: A beautiful new presentation of Dylan Thomas’ heartfelt reminiscences of Christmas accompanied by charming and perfectly matched illustrations. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 80 | Date: October 2014 |
| Publisher: Orion Childrens | |
| ISBN: 978-1444013467 | |
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Christmas time growing up in a Welsh seaside town was magical for Dylan Thomas, always snowy and full of adventure. From attempting to extinguish house fires with snowballs to hippo footprints in the snow his childhood in the snow was a time of wonder and pure joy.
Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales is not so much a tale as a collection of memories of Christmas time as a child himself and a loose narrative that is used to string together these memories. The important aspects of Christmas are described in a series of short passages dealing with reminiscences of families gathered around a tree and a fireplace, loved and unloved Christmas presents and frolicking in the snow.
Dylan Thomas is able to recall and evoke the feelings of being a child and experiencing the season with the sense of wonder that we all have felt. The whole thing is written beautifully and the language and flow of the words are great to read aloud. The tales are simple and incredibly easy to relate to and I can’t imagine anyone being able to read this without raising a smile and fondly remembering Christmases past and looking forward to those to come.
The illustrations by Peter Bailey are perfect for the feel of the book. They are simple and charming images with a real children’s classic style to them and brilliantly compliment the story displaying the humorous and playful scenes that Thomas describes with great style.
This is a highly evocative little book that revels in the joys of Christmas and reading it creates a real feeling of warmth and comfort inside and brilliantly wakes up the inner child, a real pleasure to read. The cloth bound hardback presentation of this book is great and this particular edition is sure to become a treasured possession in many households. It is one of those books that a child will cling on to as they grow up and cherish for a lifetime to one day pass on to their own children.
For another classic book of tales that are perfect to read together it is hard to beat Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling which will always be a family favourite.
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You can read more book reviews or buy A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas and Peter Bailey at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas and Peter Bailey at Amazon.com.
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