Tag Jean Reagan

Santa, Santa, Santa …

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Waiting for Santa
Steve Metzger and Alison Edgson
Little Tiger Press
This really is Christmas enchantment, small furry animal style.
It’s Christmas Eve and Bear is awake before his friends. ”We’ve got to get ready for Santa Claus!” he informs them excitedly. Badger however, doesn’t share his enthusiasm: “Santa’s not coming … He doesn’t even know we’re here!” he grumbles.
His other pals are unsure but fortunately Bear’s enthusiasm wins them round and so under his direction they rally, busying themselves making signs,

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preparing snacks for Santa’s reindeer and decorating a Christmas tree. This they sit down beside, once they’ve managed to tie the star atop, that is. It’s a long wait for Santa’s arrival and as night falls and they sup their cocoa, doubt starts to creep in; even Bear begins to feel anxious,

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but then up in the sky …

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That’s not quite where we leave the friends though: Santa needs a little help with his delivery round and one of their number (heartily endorsed by Badger) goes off with him on the sleigh.
A sweet story focusing on the build up to the big day; the animals are relatively undemanding rather than greedy about presents; and I particularly like the element of teamwork. Alison Edgson’s soft scenes are a delight and the tense atmosphere as the friends sit under the tree waiting is almost palpable.

There seems to be a plethora of cute seasonal stories for the under sixes this year; here’s another:

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Santa Baby
Smriti Prasadam Halls and Ada Grey
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Disappointed that he cannot accompany Santa on his delivery round, Santa Baby complains to Roo and both agree it’s no fun being small. But when they step indoors what do they find but two large parcels left behind.

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Fearing a child will be left presentless on Christmas morn, it’s a case of dashing through the snow, “We’re off to save the day.” But can they do just that in the face of super snowball fighting elf friends, slippy, sliding penguins and a rather reckless midnight loop-the-loop?

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And who are the recipients of the two parcels they’ve risked life and limb to deliver? To discover the answers, you’ll have to get a copy of this charmingly illustrated, delightful, rhyming story (that echoes the patterning of The Night before Christmas), and share it with young listeners.

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How to Catch Santa
Jean Reagan and Lee Wildish
Hodder Children’s Books
The recipe is as before if you’re familiar with the amusing ‘How to’ series from the Reagan/Wildish team – well kind of.
The spirited youngsters are on hand to furnish Santa-catching instructions but first there are all manner of considerations. Questions for Santa “How do you stay clean?” for instance and things you want to tell him – “I’m trying very hard to be good.” is pretty important. Then you might want to give HIM something – ‘A nose-warmer for cold sleigh rides’ should go down well.
Of course, none of this is any use unless you actually manage to catch the man and some ways are definitely NOT top of the list …

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What’s needed instead is craft and guile…

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and plenty of patience for sure. Even then a degree of quiet is vital for ensuring you don’t miss those special sounds – sleigh bells and the odd Ho Ho HO! for instance …

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Oops! Nearly forgot to say ‘Santa won’t come to your house until you’re asleep.’ So, catching him? Well there’s always next time …
Tongue in cheek humour verbal and visual in sack loads herein.

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The Night Before Christmas
Clement C. Moore and Mark Marshall
Little Tiger Press
Mark Marshall’s visuals for the favourite Christmas Eve poem are full of seasonal charm with a modern edge to them. Santa though, truly is ‘a right jolly old elf’ …

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as he pays a special visit to Ruby and Sam’s home. They’ve left him the customary offering …

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and are snug in their beds, till young Sam is summarily awoken

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and watches St. Nicholas filling the stockings and he’s not the only one watching.

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Surprising a Dad/Superhero Dad

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How to Surprise a Dad
Jean Reagan and Lee Wildish
Hodder Children’s Books
The same team who gave us manuals for babysitting a Grandma and a Grandad now offer another instruction book. Herein we find a brother and sister joining forces to give their Dad a day (or several) to remember If you want tips on Dad-pleasing, then look no further, so long as you are prepared to be more than a little tricky;

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and it’s better to enlist Mum’s support too.
There are suggestions for the kind of surprises you might make – inventions for instance,

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or getting things ready or organising things for him, helping with the shopping, days out enjoying nature and some wonderful cooking extravaganzas with favourite ingredients (spicy crisps, smoked oysters, super-stinky cheese for instance) to serve along with those choc. chip cookies.

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With a plethora of plans to please a papa from Reagan and those digitally rendered illustrations peppered with presents and pop-pleasing humour from Wildish, this is an obvious choice for Father’s Day but equally fun to share with Dad at any time.

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Superhero Dad
Timothy Knapman and Joe Berger
Nosy Crow
The Dad in this rhyming romp is assuredly a larger than life character – a secret superhero – the boy narrator informs us. His snores are ear-splitting, breakfasts are outlandishly awesome concoctions,

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he laughs uproariously at his own super-soppy jokes, his strength is – well what do you think?

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So much is worthy of his superhero status: his roars, (and kisses), his zooms and lifts, his woodwork skills especially.

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But, the positioning of his pants puts his whole ‘superhero-ness’ in doubt (to those who don’t know him well that is) but not to our young narrator: he knows what others don’t. It’s Dad though, not boy who has the final word …
With comical celebratory capers, cleverly constructed by the super Knapman and Berger partnership, this is a special treat for Dads to share with their super-kids and vice-versa; but also great fun for all super-adults to read to all super-smalls.

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Gracie and Leo engrossed in the story.

 

 

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My Dad’s the Best!
Nicholas Allan
Red Fox pbk
All dads are special is the message in Nicholas Allen’s latest offering. None however is quite like that belonging to the young narrator of this rhyming celebration of one slightly eccentric father figure, and dads in general.

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Told through a jaunty text and a sequence of zany watercolour illustrations,
this is one for dads and their offspring to share and not just on Fathers’ Day.

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Grans are Great

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How to Hide a Lion from Grandma
Helen Stephens
Alison Green Books
In this follow up to How to Hide a Lion, Iris has a tricky problem: where to secrete her leonine companion when her parents go away and her Grandma comes to stay. When she duly arrives, Grandma brings an enormous box, so heavy that it’s a real struggle to carry it up the stairs: those hats and bits and bobs must be very heavy ones think her parents as they heave it to gran’s room just before they leave. Seemingly though Iris’s worries are unfounded: her Grandma is so short-sighted she mistakes the lion for all manner of household items from a lamp to a sofa

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and she doesn’t even notice when he accompanies them to the supermarket. So why is she buying such vast quantities of milk, bananas, peanut butter and honey (clue here)? Supposedly Grandma suffers from night time hunger pangs. Why too does she ignore Iris’s pleas to play dressing up with the contents of her trunk?
If you haven’t met Iris in How to Hide a Lion, then do make her acquaintance now; she’s a delightful character. So too is her Grandma – a really endearing, fun-loving person and just right for Iris.
With a slightly retro feel, and rendered in a somewhat subdued palette, Helen Stephens’ illustrations have an old-fashioned charm and are suffused with a gentle humour.
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There’s another funky Grandma in:

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How to Babysit a Grandma
Jean Reagan and Lee Wildish
Hodder Children’s Books pbk
Young babysitters like the little girl narrator of this companion to How to Babysit a Grandad know just how to keep a Grandma happy when it’s a sleepover at her house. The recipe is pretty much the same as before, much of the information being offered in the form of lists with vital tips on such things as how to say a silent I love you and how to make shadow foxes kiss goodnight at bedtime.
With a mix of full-page illustrations and smaller vignettes, there is much to feast the eyes on: some spreads are choc full of busy details such as the shoe shop

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and decorated gran scenes, (did I catch a glimpse of Grandad and his charge in the park pictures?) Others offer space for a more reflective lingering look like that of gazing at the first star of the evening.

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Just the thing for Grandmas to share with their charges and vice versa, especially when called upon to babysit.
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A Scarf and a Half
Amanda Brandon and Cataline Echeverri
Maverick Arts Publishing pbk
Granny Mutton just loves to knit so when Little Lionel’s birthday draws near she starts making him a rainbow scarf. The only trouble is, she doesn’t know when to stop so it just gets longer and longer and longer … Having completed said scarf, she rolls it up, makes a parcel and gives it to her grandson. Excitedly, Little Lionel looks at its bulgy shape and convinced his present is a football, anticipates the fun he’ll have with his friends. Imagine his disappointment on discovering the contents of his parcel: off he goes looking decidedly bundled up and before long convinced that “… you can’t have a laugh with a scarf” abandons his useless gift. However his friends have more imagination and it’s not long before said article is being put to good use for all manner of fun activities for, as his friends all tell him, “That’s not a scarf, that’s a scarf and a half!” His Granny’s pretty cool too.
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