Anne Harvey is an old hand at compiling anthologies, and her latest
offering brings together a diverse collection of childhood
Christmases. The result is a gentle, evocative blend of stories,
memories, poems and pictures, some comfortingly familiar and others
bang up to date. Harvey groups material into broad themes - 'The
Nativity', 'Players and Pantomimes' and 'Santa Claus and
Stockings', for example - and adds her own useful introductory
notes to give context and coherence to her selections. Her skill in
pulling material together creates an enjoyable read. This is a book
that can just as easily be flicked through alone or shared, dipped
in and out of like a box of chocolates or ploughed through at a
single sitting like Christmas lunch itself. In amongst the snow and
tinsel there is something to appeal to all ages and some wry
humour, not least from children's sayings. Whilst nostalgia is
strong from the first page, Harvey manages to avoid a cloying romp
through the familiar by tempering the sentiments just enough with
the bleaker side of Christmas. Some tales from orphans who receive
shoe boxes under the project 'Operation Christmas Child' are both
heart-wrenching and heart-warming, and together with the memories
from times of war they remind the rest of us of our good fortune.
This is a warming book to inspire the Christmas spirit and an
appetite for puddings in all of us. (Kirkus UK)
Anne Harvey recreates the magic and spirit of childhood Christmases
through a collection of pieces of poetry, prose and illustration
covering the past two centuries, reminding us of the excitement and
anticipation felt by children at Christmas time. Their expectations
and experiences at Christmas: the food and the presents, the
preparation, the enigma of Father Christmas, the knobbly stocking,
the magical tree, the sense of wonder as well as those moments of
fear and disappointment, are all captured. Extracts from writers
and artists including Quentin Blake, Alison Uttley, A.A Milne, and
Tolkien vividly remember the excitement of hanging the stockings,
making Christmas Puddings, singing carols, and decorating the tree.
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