Title: Winter Magic Writer: Various edited by Abi Elphinstone Publishing House: Simon & Schuster Children’s Books Date of Publication: October 19th 2017 (first published November 3rd 2016) Rating: 5 stars ‘’Winter is a season that sparkles with magic and transforms our ordinary world into a glittering kingdom: rooftops covered in snow, lakes glazed with ice…
Month: January 2021
A Shiver of Snow and Sky
Title: A Shiver of Snow and Sky Writer: Lisa Lueddecke Publishing House: Scholastic Children’s Books Date of Publication: October 5th 2017 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Though my soul may set in darkness, it Will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be Fearful of the night.’’ Sarah Williams In a land…
Hans Christian Andersen: The Journey of His Life
Title: Hans Christian Andersen: The Journey of His Life Writer: Heinz Janisch, illustrated by Maja Kastelic Publishing House: NorthSouth Books Date of Publication: September 1st 2020 Rating: 5 stars “The most wonderful fairytale is life itself. “ Hans Christian Andersen A little girl travels with her lither to Copenhagen. It is going to be a…
Then A Wind Blew
Title: Then A Wind Blew Writer: Kay Powell Publishing House: Weaver Press Date of Publication: January 26th 2021 Rating: 4 stars ‘’She loved to be out in the stoep at night, her only companions the wind that sang in the long grass and the nights calls of distant animals. And the crickets, with their non-stop…
Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales
Title: Midwinter Murder Writer: Agatha Christie Publishing House: William Morrow Paperbacks Date of Publication: October 20th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ‘’It was nearly dark. The house felt suddenly very quiet and empty. It was a lonely house, two miles from a village, two miles, as Molly put it, from anywhere. She had often been alone…
The Santa Klaus Murder
Title: The Santa Klaus Murder Writer: Mavis Doriel Hay Publishing House: The British Library Date of Publication: October 1st 2015 (first published 1936) Rating: 5 stars “I have often found that the best way to persuade anyone to do something they suspect is to explain that they really need not do it.” Sir Osmond Melbury,…
Mystery In White
Title: Mystery In White Writer: J. Jefferson Farjeon Publishing House: British Library Crime Classics Date of Publication: September 28th 2014 (first published 1937) Rating: 5 stars ‘’The horrors on the train, great though as it may turn to be, will not compete with the horror that exists here, in this house.’’ It is Christmas Eve…
Half Spent Was The Night
Title: Half Spent Was the Night Writer: Ami McKay Publishing House: Knopf Canada Date of Publication: October 16th 2018 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Christmas days have come and gone, the New Year lies ahead. Strange things happen Between the Years in the days outside of time. Minutes go wild, hours vanish. Idleness becomes a clever thief,…
Murder at Christmas
Title: Murder at Christmas Writer: Various edited by Cecily Gayford Publishing House: Profile Books Date of Publication: November 7th 2019 Rating: 4 stars ‘’Murder under the mistletoe – and the man who must have done it couldn’t have done it. That’s my Christmas and I don’t feel merry, thank you very much all the same.’’…
The Hatmakers
Title: The Hatmakers Writer: Tamzin Merchant, illustrated by Paola Escobar Publishing House: Norton Young Readers Date of Publication: January 7th 2021 Rating: 5 stars ‘’It was a wild and lightning-struck night. The kind of night that changes everything. Jagged forks of light ripped across the sky and thunder rolled in tidal waves over the rooftops…
12 Days of Christmas
Title: 12 Days of Christmas Writer: Illustrated by Lara Hawthorne Publishing House: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books Date of Publication: October 6th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ‘’And a partridge in a pear tree.’’ 1995. I was ten years old when our English teacher brought us an all-new song for Christmas. ‘Forget Jingle Bells and Silent Night,…
The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories
Title: The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories Vol.1 Writer: Edited by Tara Moore Publishing House: Valancourt Books Rating: 4 stars ‘’Imagine a midwinter night, an early sunset, a long drafty evening spent by candlelight. The season of Christmas coincides with the shortest days of the year and, for middle-class Victorians, a chance for…
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