Katie's London Christmas by James Mayhew
| Katie's London Christmas by James Mayhew | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Ruth Ng
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| Summary: A little bit of Christmas magic with a London flavour - perfect for stockings or, if you're like my family, for whenever you need a bit of Father Christmas throughout the year! | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: September 2014 |
| Publisher: Orchard Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: | |
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We have never been strict about Christmas in our house. It's usually my husband who starts it, with a carol or two during the summer! It's hard to resist that Christmas urge if you're a die-hard fan of the season! I have a friend who keeps all her Christmas related stories safely in a cupboard, brought out in a special basket only during the season itself. We, meanwhile, have Christmas stories all year round because, honestly, who doesn't like a bit of Father Christmas magic now and then?! Anyway, this is all to say that here is a Christmas story that some purists will tuck away until Christmas Eve but we have quite happily read during Halloween! Katie is back, and heading back to London, but this time she's on a mission to help Father Christmas...
My daughter really enjoyed a previous Katie story. When we took a short holiday to London we even had to go and find the lion in Trafalgar Square that Katie went around London with. I'm pretty sure she was waiting for him to open his eye and wink at her or whisk her away on her own little adventure! In this story Katie and her brother are sleeping. It's Christmas Eve and the house is silent, but then suddenly someone sneezes! Who could it be? They creep downstairs and discover a rather poorly Father Christmas. Being kind and helpful souls they offer to help Father Christmas deliver his gifts, and so their adventure begins.
There's no real reason for the story to be set in London, other than you get some lovely scenic illustrations as Father Christmas and Katie and Jack zoom around over the top of St Paul's and past Covent Garden. I like the one of the sleigh snaking around Big Ben, and it's not just the old landmarks as there's also a picture of the Shard too. I also like one of the early pictures, where Katie and Jack have crept downstairs and we see them peeking around the doorway, with Father Christmas putting their presents under the tree! It's fun to see their travels around the city. Their final present drop off is a rather famous one - I'll let you discover where they go, and how they are almost discovered too thanks to another sudden sneeze from Father Christmas!
They have, as you'd imagine, a perfectly lovely time delivering the presents, finding out about the magic ways Father Christmas gets down chimneys (although not, in this case, what he does when there isn't a chimney, which always worried me...) As a tired mother, I liked the fact that the children fail to wake up on Christmas morning and their grandma has to go and get them out of bed! Would that my children got whisked away on Christmas Eve so that I get a lie-in this year! There is, of course, a little thank you gift from Father Christmas - I'll leave you to find out about that.
The story is sweetly told, nice and easy to follow for older toddlers, and emerging readers may want to give it a try themselves. I like all the beautiful illustrations of London throughout the story - it does look pretty in the snow! I personally prefer the earlier Katie in London book, as I like the lion who takes them sightseeing, but this is still a nice book and would make a lovely Christmas gift.
You might like to try one of the other Katie stories, like this classic.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Katie's London Christmas by James Mayhew at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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