Picture This: Santa's High-Tech Christmas

Christmas Eve deliveries with a twist!

In Santa's High-Tech Christmas, Santa uses his jet pack and techno pad to keep on top of all his deliveries, whizzing from one house to the next in record time. But when Santa drops his tech pad and the screen turns black, he needs help if he's going to get across the world on time. 

This was a fun Christmas story, with a technology twist: when Santa struggles to get to grips with his new tech, he enlists the help of a little girl called Jasmin. The art work was really sweet and the rhyming couplets made us laugh (especially at the end).

Santa's High-Tech Christmas is written by Mike Dumbleton and illustrated by Angela Perrini

Picture This: The Night Before Christmas

This is a mini, picture based review for a classic tale with lovely new artwork from Helene Magisson that really compliments the story. I loved the soft, muted colour scheme and the sweet illustrations. We will definitely be reading this on Christmas Eve. Thank you New Frontier Publishing for sending me a copy.

The Night Before Christmas is written by Clement Clarke Moore and illustrated by Helene Magisson

Picture This: Mr Darcy and the Christmas Pudding

I'm almost at the end of the audiobook version of Pride and Prejudice, so this funny picture book was perfectly timed. Thank you New Frontier Publishing for sending me a copy!

Darcy, Lizzie and a host of other favourites are reimagined as farmyard animals, preparing for Christmas by making the mixture for a Christmas pudding. 

This story is about including everyone at Christmas - even Mr Collins the cat, who tries to eat Maria the mouse at the start of the story! - and coming together to celebrate and spend time together. 

It was very sweet and I really enjoyed reading it to my two-year-old. I also learnt about 'Stir-up Sunday', which I hadn't come across before.

It looks like this is part of a series, with two other Mr Darcy books. On the strength of this, I would love to read the first two!

Mr Darcy and the Christmas Pudding is written by Alex Field and illustrated by Peter Garnavas

Picture This: Santa's Tight Squeeze

I'm really excited to have five lovely Christmas stories to review this month from New Frontier Publishing. First up is Santa's Tight Squeeze.

As Santa travels across the world, the children he visits generously leave out plenty of snacks and treats to help him on his way. But the more Santa eats, the harder he finds it to squeeze down chimneys and through windows! If he's going to make it round the world in time, he's going to need a plan.

This was a sweet, funny picture book about sharing, which features some lovely drawings from famous landmarks around the world. My toddler really enjoyed the pictures of Santa's reindeer eating treats. This is definitely a story we will read again and again.

Santa's tight squeeze is written by Alex Field and illustrated by Karen Erasmus