Baby librarian Marian and her mommy Margaret review the lovely lift-the-flap Little Christmas Tree by Jessica Courtney-Tickle.
Marian reviews Little Christmas Tree
This book shimmers! I love how the tree shimmers on each page; it’s so pretty. It’s a lift-the-flap book, which are my favorite kind of books. I’m really good at lifting flaps, but this one has some tricky hidden ones. Mommy says they’re camouflaged. And they’re also small flaps, but I’m good enough now with my fine motor skills to lift all the flaps once I find them.
For some reason, Mommy won’t let me rip off the flaps and eat them. Why would she be so mean? If I figure out how to lift them, I should get to eat them. Fair is fair.
On each page there are different forest animals. I like all the forest animals; they match my stuffed animals, like Hippity my favorite bunny, Foxy paci paci, little silly squirrel. I do not have any swan stuffed animals though. Clearly that needs to be fixed.
Margaret reviews Little Christmas Tree
There’s a lot to love with this beautiful Christmas book. The illustrations are gorgeous. The words are simple and pretty and give clues about what’s behind each flap. It’s a pretty sturdy book, so the flaps aren’t as easily torn as in other books, though you probably still need to watch your toddler with it. It also has a wide age it could appeal to, from toddlers like Marian to elementary school children. And parents will love it for its beauty.
But. But. The birds!!!! Okay, I’m an amateur bird watcher, and these birds just make no sense. What in the world is a parakeet doing in a snow-laden forest? Goldfinches usually migrate, but not always, so I’ll be okay with that. It’s mainly the parakeet that bothers me. I won’t lie — I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out where this forest could be. There are white ferrets, which rules out the U.S. So maybe in Europe? But there are no native parakeets in Europe. Ugh. I must climb my way out of this rabbit hole.
Okay, so apparently Jessica Courtney-Tickle is from the UK. And guess what? In the 1970s pet green parakeets were accidently released in London, where they have since multiplied and continue to live. So I stand corrected — the book is accurate!
Despite my confusion, this is a lovely addition to a Christmas book library. Marian really enjoyed reading it, and now I’ve learned about how green parakeets came to live in London.
I look forward to reading this together with Marian!
🙂