Review Blog

Oct 15 2012

Christmas is coming by Susannah McFarlane

Ill. by Lachlan Creagh. Little Mates (series). Scholastic, 2012. ISBN 9781 74283 168 8.
(Ages: 3+) Australian animals, Christmas. Another in the Little Mates series, this one has all the animals getting ready for Christmas. Each double page shows and tells of the animals as they prepare the traditional things ready for the big day. With a stress on the letter c, each page offers two animals, a wombat and galah, called Connor and Chloe, as they write their cards and send them off to places such as Collangatta, the next page writing their letters to Santa Claus. Following this is cooking Christmas cakes and chocolate crackles, while collecting a Christmas tree from the co-op. Al in all, this is a wonderfully evocative presentation of the plans families make for Christmas, and could be well used in the classroom as a discussion starter for how members of the class celebrate this day.
With lively illustrations, the animals themselves add to the fun of the preparations, finally eating too much and then playing cricket.
With a stress on one letter and the words often beginning with that letter, one of the the teaching uses of this series is very clear.
Fran Knight