December Book Club
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! So what better way to celebrate than with a good book? Do you know that in Iceland, books are exchanged on Christmas Eve, then the tradition is to spend the rest of the night reading and eating chocolate? That sounds absolutely perfect to us!
The Christmas Pig
Have you gotten to December and just realised that you no longer read chapter books together with your tween? That somewhere throughout the year they became a little too old/cool and you’ve somehow just stopped?
The Christmas Pig may just be your literary solution. It’s written by JK Rowling (of Harry Potter fame obvs), so you already know it’s going to be good and December is the season of perpetual hope and Christmas miracles – so what better time than to suggest a ‘chapter a night before bed’?
Set during the lead up to Christmas Day, The Christmas Pig is big on festive spirit, magic and adventure, with a surprise cameo from Santa thrown in for good measure. It’s also unexpectedly layered, with themes of family relationships and growing up both interwoven throughout.
Jack loves his childhood toy, Dur Pig. DP has always been there for him, through good and bad. Until one Christmas Eve, something terrible happens - DP is lost. But Christmas Eve is a night for miracles and lost causes, a night when all things can come to life... even toys. And Jack's newest toy - the Christmas Pig (DP's annoying replacement) - has a daring plan: Together they'll embark on a magical journey to seek something lost, and to save the best friend Jack has ever known...
A perfect, nostalgic read for anyone looking for a Christmas-inspired title – perfect to read alone, or together.
Diary of a Christmas Elf
Diary of a Christmas Elf is written by author/actor Ben Miller who you’d probably know from Johnny English, the Paddington Films, BBC’s Death in Paradise and Bridgerton. He brings the same level of comedic humour to his writing (well his Johnny English, Paddington humour – Bridgerton not so much).
The book therefore is funny, for kids and adults alike. It’s also a really good story with a fast-paced plot, plenty of reindeer poop and a mystery to solve!
All Tog wants to do is work in Santa's workshop and one wonderful day, the letter from Santa arrives: Tog has been selected as an apprentice elf! Making toys is a lot more technical and a lot less fun than Tog had imagined, and even though his new friend Holly tries to help him, he's quickly relegated to cleaning out the reindeer stables. But someone has been stealing the presents from the workshop and a case of mistaken identity finds Tog accused of being the culprit! Can Tog use his special Christmas magic to discover the real thief and save all the presents before Christmas Eve is over?
Guinness World Records 2023
While not exactly a Christmas book, the Guinness World Records has been making it onto many a Christmas best-seller list since it was first published in 1955.
With over 100 million copies sold around the world it is a beloved book of weird and wonderful human endeavours such as world’s tallest woman, (Rumeysa Gelgi from Turkey), or most expensive dinosaur bone ever sold, (A Trex skeleton dubbed Stan which sold for $31,847,500 US in 2020).
The 2023 edition also has several new additions including the Kids’ Records Project which focuses on challenges specifically for kids under 16-years-old. These records include ‘Fastest time to stack a 20 brick right-angled Lego tower’ and ‘Most socks put on one foot in 30 seconds’.
Young achievers are also showcased with Hong Kong’s Scarlett Cheng the proud owner of the world’s largest collection of lip balm (3,388 items).
The perfect stocking filler for all ages.