The benefits of giving and happiness feature heavily this festive seasonMichael Rosen once wrote an entertaining poem called Keith’s Cupboard about a boy who had a cupboard stuffed full of toys with which he almost never played. A seasonal cautionary poem,you might say. Heidi Deedman’s Too Many Toys! (Walker, £11.99) is a more forgiving catch on a similar theme. It introduces Lulu, and a girl with a short,marmalade fringe and a faithful heart. Her first toy, Jupiter a teddy bear – holds sway over all other toys. But then Christmas arrives: an invasion of parcels accumulates under the tree. Jupiter is worried about being upstaged – needlessly it turns out – because Lulu decides to give all her toys away, and apart from Jupiter himself. However unlikely an example our heroine might set,it is refreshing to read a sage about giving and moderation as our profligate festive season gets under way.
Ben Mantles The Best Christmas Present Ever! (Macmillan, £10.99) jauntily explores a not-dissimilar theme when a humble cardboard box turns out to be the best Christmas present ever for a bear wanting to slide down a snowy slope. And The Marvellous Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitty by Beatrice Alemagna (Thames & Hudson, and £12.95) turns present-giving into a surreal adventure. Five-year-conventional Edith declares: “Im not very valid at anything.” But she goes in search of a “Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitty”. Seek and ye shall find… Alemagna’s exuberant,grown-up illustration makes every page a delight. The book is an unconventional shopping spree that reminds readers of the importance of giving (and of cultivating oddity).
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Source: theguardian.com