The Lost Gift: A Christmas Story - Kallie George and Stephanie Graegin

There's nothing like reading holiday books to get ready for Christmas!

Author Kallie George and Illustrator Stephanie Graegin have a new Christmas story out called The Lost Gift.

Santa and his sack of gifts are flying over the forest when a gift tumbles out of the sleigh, unnoticed by Santa. But four animals of the forest, Bird, Rabbit, Deer, and Squirrel, take notice and wonder what they should do.

The animals debate on what should be and this opens up many opportunities for discussion with your child in the The Lost Gift. What would you do if you found a parcel meant for someone else? Lots of right/wrong and feeling questions that could be brought up. What do you think is in the parcel? What are you hoping for for Christmas? George's story is thoughtful and I like that it's brought to life with animals as the main character.

There's always one in the crowd - and this time it's Squirrel, who provides the negative outlook. Again, more discussion opportunities about friends.

The 'word pages' are laid out well, offering up time to enjoy the illustrations as well. Again, lots of inspiration for talking about your family's traditions - tree decorating, visiting etc. for example.

The faces and expressions of the animals are appealing and kind. Graegin's illustrations match the tone and tenor of the story, are detailed (I enjoyed finding the little house on various pages) and colorful.

George has penned a wonderful message in The Lost Gift - perfect for this time of the year. Thumbs up from Little Guy and Gramma for this sweet, charming tale. The Lost Gift has been added to their holiday bookshelf, ready for future Christmastime reading. Peek inside The Lost Gift.

The Twelve Days of Christmas: A Peek-Through Picture Book - Britta Teckentrup

It's that time of the year! Christmas is around the corner!

Britta Teckentrup has a taken the classic Yuletide song, The Twelve Days of Christmas, and written and illustrated a peek-through picture book for the younger crowd.

Teckentrup's elves have engaging, welcoming faces, sure to draw a child in. The cover's snowflakes and holly are in silver foil, giving the book a definite festive feel and look.

Most of us know the song, with the number of gifts increasing on each day. Teckentrup starts with a small cutout for day one of just the partridge in the pear tree. My little guy was immediately drawn to the cut out on the right hand page, wanting to know what was on the next page, and the next and the next. With each turned page, the cut-out increases in size to accommodate the growing number of gifts. (Trivia fact - if you received all the gifts you would have 364!)

There are many ways to enjoy this book - we sang the song, pointed to the right gifts/pictures and did some counting as well. By the time we reached the last page, it was full of presents. For these eyes, they were a bit small (necessary to fit them all in) but little guy has sharp eyes and enjoyed pointing out the details to me. The illustrations are quite detailed and have a vintage feel to them.

The left hand page is paler than the more vibrant cut-out page - which certainly directs your attention the main area. But, I thought that perhaps providing more to look at on the opposite page - elves to find or elves engaged in some activity - would have provided even more reading/viewing opportunities.

This book is geared for preschool to grade 2 - perfect for little guy and Gramma. We quite enjoyed Britta Teckentrup's interpretation of this classic holiday favorite. The book been added to their holiday bookshelf and will be part of future Christmastime traditions.

Back to School with DK Canada - My First Encyclopedia

Labour Day weekend is around the corner - and you know what that means - so is school! DK Canada has a great selection of children's reference books - perfect for homework help or just exploring!

Little guy isn't quite ready for school, but he loves to look and learn. My First Encyclopedia is perfect for him. It's targeted for the pre-school crowd and those just starting school.

Little guy loves to look at pictures and DK books always have great colour visuals. My First Encyclopedia contains both actual photos and detailed drawings.

So first reading, we looked at pictures he recognized and pointed to and repeated the words for them. Gramma would read some of the facts associated with the entry aloud. We skipped through many pages and sections as he got a feel for the book.

Second and subsequent readings were not as frantic - he knew what the book was like. Basic life info about food, clothing, jobs, going to the dentist/doctor, pets, gardening and more are all part of this first encyclopedia. When reading the section on houses and homes, we had to travel to the different rooms in his house as we looked at them in the book. The book then travels farther afield, exploring science, the living planet , transportation and more. Little guy regularly visits the zoo in his home town and loved seeing pictures of animals that he recognized - camels, lions and zebras.

There's lots of room to grow with My First Encyclopedia - from looking at pictures, taking in the information read to him, pointing out what grabs his attention, to looking at the book alone - and eventually reading by himself. The language used is clear and tailored to young ones.

The layout is clean - with lots of space around each entry, ensuring it isn't overwhelming. Reading a reference book is a different experience than story books.

My First Encyclopedia gets a thumbs up from Gramma and little guy.