Short Christmas Stories by Maggie Pearson
| Short Christmas Stories by Maggie Pearson | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Anne Thompson
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| Summary: A small book containing over forty very short stories on the theme of Christmas. A selection of amusing, thoughtful, spooky, and scary tales means that there is something for everyone. Useful for schools and a handy stocking filler too. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 96 | Date: October 2012 |
| Publisher: Oxford University Press | |
| ISBN: 9780192794697 | |
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The latest offering in the successful Short Series from Oxford University Press, this book contains a selection of very short stories, none more than two pages long, on a Christmas theme. There are over forty tales in this collection, some are derived from traditional tales from different countries, some are more current and the wide variety of funny, thought-provoking, spooky and occasionally scary stories provides something to suit all tastes.
Amongst the various stories included are some offering a different take on the story of the Nativity, for example, The Brave Little Camel is a charming tale about a baby camel who accompanied the three wise men on their journey to Bethlehem. Others detail the origins of Christmas gift-givers around the world including La Befana from Italy. Famous historical Christmas stories are included too such as the poignant description of Christmas 1914 in the First World War trenches and the delightful description of the source of the much loved carol Silent Night. The folk tales about how the Christmas Rose and the Poinsettia came to be were new to me but well known stories such as The Little Match Girl are included too. There are ghost stories and slightly spooky tales and one or two scary ones that may result in having to leave the bedroom light on! However there are some jokes and amusing stories to lighten the tone too.
Although books of this type do not have a great use beyond the Christmas period the length of the stories would make this book very useful for schools and it would be a useful stocking filler for children of eight plus too.
I would like to thank the publishers for sending a copy of this book to Bookbag.
The first book in this series is Short by Kevin Crossley-Holland. For stories on a Christmas theme for younger children Bookbag enjoyed Olivia Helps With Christmas by Ian Falconer and Melrose and Croc: Together at Christmas by Emma Chichester-Clark.
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