The Books for Keeps Christmas Gift Guide 2022
It’s always a pleasure to put together the annual Books for Keeps Christmas Gift Guide and once again, we’ve been snowed under (sorry) with seasonal offerings to recommend. Indeed, the BfK offices resemble Santa’s workshop, such is the plethora of seasonal treats we’ve been sent. What follows is just a small selection of the wonderful range of books ready to find their place under the tree this year, but we hope you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for, and don’t forget to use our review section, Books of the Year and Book of the Week reviews too to draw up your gift lists.
Big books and little books
Clotilde Perrin’s Inside the Villains (Gecko Press) was one of our gift recommendations in 2019, and Gotcha! is unmissable too. Flamboyantly large, it invites readers to escape some scary monsters by entering three fairy tale houses. Lift the flaps to explore the best hiding places and pick up tips along the way so that you can turn the tables on those doing the seeking. A book to have young readers shrieking with delight and one that roars new shocks and excitement into the fairy tale world.
Almost as large, very different but just as likely to be received with glee is the Tom Gates Totally Brilliant Advent Calendar, which counts us down to Christmas Eve via 24 little mini adventures-come-activity books, neatly stored inside a hardback outer. It’s been a good year all round for Tom Gates fans, as book 20 in the series, Tom Gates: Happy to Help (eventually) (Scholastic) is just out, Tom as funny, spontaneous and personable as ever.
For little people meanwhile, there are some lovely little festive board books. Merry Little Christmas by Nick Sharratt and Sally Symes (Walker Books) is a Finger Wiggle Book, matching holes on every page allowing readers to give some familiar characters, including a snowman, robin and jolly elf, wiggly legs. Usborne have a very engaging ‘touchy feely book’, with added sounds, Don’t Tickle the Reindeer, but Lights and Sounds Christmas by Sam Taplin and Jordan Wray is particularly appealing, night-time scenes lit up by real twinkling lights, and buttons that pressed play Christmas tunes. Emma Dodd’s Christmas is Love (Templar), starring a reindeer and calf, has a sparkly cover but no other gimmicks, just Dodds’ warm, tender evocation of family love.
Polar Bears and Penguins
That quarrelsome couple, the bear and mouse, first encountered in Ross Collins’ award-winning There’s a Bear on My Chair are back and 
disagreeing about the decorations on their Christmas tree in We Disagree About this Tree (Nosy Crow). Bear wants lights, lots of lights, while Mouse argues for tinsel. The more they tussle, the more damage is done to the tree. All ends amicably of course, with the two friends finding something on which they are in complete accord. Playful, perfectly illustrated, and certain to prompt discussion. Little Bear by Richard Jones (Simon and Schuster), a BfK favourite and a more quiet, gentler investigation of friendship is out now in paperback and recommended too. A penguin huddle becomes a penguin muddle in Ross Montgomery and Sarah Warburton’s delightful comic celebration of community. Frozen together, the penguin friends need help to defrost, and find it after journeying (lovely map) to the big city. Penguin Huddle (Walker Books) is full of surprises, and Warburton’s penguin portraits packed with character. Well Done, Mummy Penguin (Walker Books) is Chris Haughton at his absolute best. Mummy Penguin is going out and leaving Daddy Penguin and Little Penguin, but where is she going, and will she return? There’s excitement, tension, surprises, humour before the reassuring ending. Haughton’s bold colours, deft characterisation and flawless control of the story makes this a supremely enjoyable reading experience. Penguinophiles should also search out Einstein the Penguin’s second outing, The Case of the Fishy Detective (HarperCollins Children’s Books), for sharp writing and wonderful situation comedy while Laura Ellen Anderson’s Evil Emperor Penguin adventures are now available as a chunky paperback, with added ‘how to draw’ information to boot (David Fickling Books).
Ready wrapped picture books
Father Christmas makes personal appearances in numerous new picture books of course and here are some favourites. In Through the North Pole Snow by Polly Faber and Richard Jones (Walker Books), he has an unexpected guest, a little Arctic fox searching for food. The fox has no idea who this tired old man is, but watches as the seasons pass and her new friend prepares again for Christmas Eve, until joining him in the sleigh, finally, ‘she understood everything.’ Text and illustrations welcome the reader into a world that changes from white to green to white again, while Santa’s comfortable home is a place of warmth and happiness. Floris Books have a new edition of Little Fairy’s Christmas by Daniela Drescher, in which he helps a fairy and little elf both lost in a snowstorm back to the cosiness of the elf’s family. First published in Germany in 2010, the charm of Drescher’s story and watercolour illustrations of the wintery countryside are appealing as ever. Those baddies Lanky Len and Hefty Hugh almost get away with Santa’s newly delivered presents in What the Ladybird Heard at Christmas by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks (Macmillan) but are foiled – again – by the eponymous ladybird. Donaldson and Monks go together like the holly and the ivy and as always with their collaborations, this is a treat to read aloud and a treat to look at. Santa’s Christmas Countdown by Sebastien Braun (Townhouse Books) has a very jolly black Santa and readers can join in the fun of his preparations, touch and feel panels, including of course a fluffy beard, adding to the excitement. No Father Christmas but an owl in The Christmas Owl (Andersen Press). This true story of a little saw-whet owl accidentally transported to the Rockefeller Centre in the branches of its Christmas tree is filled with the spirit of the season. Released back into the wild, the little owl takes a detour by ‘her’ tree, observing the love on display as people come together to celebrate. Similarly, in Gaspard’s Christmas (Graffeg) by Zeb Soames and James Mayhew, the reactions of Gaspard the fox and his animal friends teach us humans a lesson about the true meaning of Christmas. Proceeds from this book will go to St Martin-in -the-Fields homeless charity to help people across the UK.
Families are central to Christmas and A Family Christmas (Uclan Publishing) by Alana Washington and Emily Nash rejoices in those ordinary activities that make Christmas special, while romantic love is celebrated in The Woodcutter and the Snow Prince (Owlet Press) by Ian Eagleton and Davide Ortu. An adaptation of The Snow Queen, two lonely young people, a woodcutter and the Snow Prince find each other, lose one another, and find each other again in magical story.
Two final picture book recommendations: The Perfect Present (Otter-Barry Books) by Petr Horáček and The Perfect Gift (Tiny Owl) by Alan Durant and Marjan Vafaeian because they are, indeed, perfect for giving.
Story Collections
Christmas is a time for storytelling and there are plenty of new collections. Guaranteed to brighten up bedtime, The Faber Book of Bedtime Stories is illustrated by Sarah McIntyre, features authors Natasha Farrant, Emma Carroll, Aisha Bushby, Kate Saunders, Kieran Larwood amongst others, and achieves its aim of bringing children ‘a comforting story for tonight for a happy day tomorrow.’ In in Folktales for a Better World (Crocodile Books), reviewed in this issue, Elizabeth Laird gathers stories from Ethiopia, Sudan, Palestine and other countries affected by war. Full of wisdom, the tales celebrate peace. Winner of an English PEN Translates Award, A Fairytale for Everyone (Farshore) reimagines fairy stories, some familiar, some less so, in a contemporary, inclusive light and gives them new relevance and vibrancy. Elli Woollard’s retellings in verse of favourite Grimms’ Fairy Tales (Macmillan) will be hugely popular with young readers. With lively illustrations by Marta Altés, these are fresh, funny and delightful to read aloud. Boxer Books have new paperback editions of two truly beautiful books by self-confessed ‘story-collector’ Jane Ray, The Little Mermaid and Other Fishy Tales and The Emperor’s Nightingale and Other Feathery Tales. Ray’s selections are wide-ranging, often accompanied by a thoughtful, eloquent introduction, and her illustrations, created on scraperboard, are exquisite. Welbeck have a new version of Aesop’s Fables, illustrated by Robert Ingpen and retold by Caroline Lawrence and together they give Aesop’s world of clever slaves, Greek gods and talking animals a new immediacy, Ingpen’s use of perspective, composition and emotional focus powerful as ever.
Old friends
Christmas is a time for old friends too and Oxford are celebrating the 35th anniversary of Winnie the Witch with a special edition of the very 
first book in this long-running, much-loved series. It comes with added extras including a behind the scenes ‘making of’ by Korky Paul. A new story, The Festival of Witches, sees Winnie and Wilbur in party mood, making friends in typically exuberant style. Nosy Crow has a new version of The Wind in the Willows, abridged for young readers by Lou Peacock and illustrated by Kate Hindley. All the elements that make it such an appealing story for the young, are there: Ratty and Mole messing about in a boat; Toad delighting in his motor car; his daring escape from the police. Kate Hindley is a whizz at illustrating vehicles and her characters jump of the page too.
Christmas themed fiction
Alex T. Smith delivers another fabulous, illustrated Christmas story with The Grumpus (Macmillan). The Grumpus is ‘a big, grumbly-huffy-puffy, pink-the-bridge-of-your-nose-and-sigh-loudly-like-a-sat-upon-whoopee-cusion grumpy grump of a creature’ who doesn’t like anybody AT ALL and loathes Christmas. He comes up with a dastardly, dreadful plan to stop it once and for all but, Scrooge-like, comes to learn the true meaning of the season through unexpected friendships and a journey of self-discovery. It’s great fun, and the illustrations sparkle. Mel Taylor’s Christmas-loving family the Carrolls are back in a new adventure, The Christmas Competition (Farshore) and determined to win the title of Most Festive Family. Silly, full of fun and totally Christmariffic, this will have everyone laughing. 
As will Operation Nativity (Usborne) by Jenny Pearson, though it will also bring a lump to the throat. Borrowed donkeys, a runaway turkey, lots of relatives plus the Angel Gabriel, Mary and Joseph, Balthazar and a shepherd called Steve all have their part to play in a story that is fantastical but absolutely rooted in family and abiding love.
Treat yourself
Finally, if there’s any space left in your bag, Creature by Shaun Tan (Walker Studio) is a collection of his extraordinary previously unpublished and rarely seen paintings and drawings of the mysterious creatures of his books. They’re accompanied by notes detailing his fascination with non-human beings and explanations for it. We thoroughly recommend The Watkins Book of English Folk Tales Neil Philip’s superb anthology of more than one hundred extraordinary tales, highly readable, endlessly entertaining.
Happy Christmas, one and all!
All the books mentioned are listed in the BfK Christmas Gift Guide.
