Children’s books for Christmas

9 December 2006

Children of 5-7 will enjoy The Christmas Unicorn by Anna Currey (OUP, £10.99). Milly is staying with Grandpa for Christmas, far from her friends and feeling lonely until the magical visitation of Florian the unicorn. The illustrations, in the manner of Edward Ardizzone, are a delight, and the feel-good story makes this an ideal choice for bedtime. The ultimate bedtime book for younger children must be Rabbit Pie by Penny Ives (Puffin, £10.99). It takes the form of a recipe: ‘Gather together your ingredients. One game of hide-and-seek, one bath, six pairs of pyjamas, six cups of milk … then find six small rabbits.’ Each stage of the bedtime routine is lovingly depicted, with plenty of opportunities for practising counting up to six.

Mixed Up Fairy Tales by Hilary Robinson, illustrated by Nick Sharratt (Hodder, £6.99), would be great fun for a child who has just learned to read. Each page is split into three parts which can be turned individually like the traditional books in which you could mix and match head, body and legs. In this case the text is on one side and the illustration opposite, so surreal and ever varying stories can be created, such as ‘Sleeping Beauty cried “Open Sesame” and was pounced on by a wolf disguised as a helping of porridge.’