If you are after a festive treat to officially kick off the festive season, you absolutely cannot go wrong with one of Alex T. Smith’s beautiful picture books. This year’s delight is a reimagining of a classic Christmas poem, borne from Smith’s inability to remember the original gifts celebrated in poetic form.

Things start off just as you would expect, turtle doves, calling birds and the like. But then things take a twist towards the unexpected – seven squirrels a-snorkelling?! Just what precisely is Eloise supposed to do with the increasingly large and bizarre menagerie of creatures she’s sent by her rather over-generous grandma?

I loved this! I was singing along in my head (to the relief of my children) all the way through the seasonal chaos presented in the warm and witty illustrations. It’s full of the charm and humour you would expect from an Alex T. Smith book.

I feel that this may become a classic version to use in school performances across the land. Guaranteed to spread festive cheer wherever it’s read – buy it now!

Library Girl.

*Many thanks to Macmillan Children’s Books for sending me this title to review*