The Winter Wish and The Christmas Book Flood

Two new Christmas books
Have stolen my heart this year
I feel as though they were written
For me and for mine

Both books are filled with
The wonder of winter
The magic of Christmas
The power of books
The strength in families
And communities
The joy of reading
And the love of
Choosing gifts for others

I hold these books
Look at these books
Read these books
Over and over
And they make my heart sing

I have a full review of
The Christmas Book Flood
Coming to my Instagram grid soon
As part of
#myfavouritechristmasread
Organised by Raising Small Readers
I have already shared a reel
Of this brilliant and beautiful book

Today I want to tell you about
The perfect book match for
Emily Kilgore and Kitty Moss’ book

The Winter Wish
By Helen Mortimer and Rachael Dean

If you watch my Instagram Stories
You will already know how much
I love this book
And how I have been inspired
To create an advent project around it
For my home educated children

Let me tell you about this
Beautiful story
Full of bookshop love
Magic and hope
And share with you our
Activity ideas inspired by the story

The Winter Wish tells William’s tale
Not my wonderful William
But a fictional just as bookish
William
Who lives above the family bookshop
William is six years old
And 37 books tall

Immediately on seeing this gorgeous page
All my children wanted to know
Their height in books
This will be our first Winter Wish Activity

William and his family’s bookshop
Is called Words of Wonder
It looks a perfect place
To spend some time
But the shop is in trouble
Tucked away at the far end
Of the High Street
The shop does not have many customers
And might have to close by Christmas
William is determined not to let this happen
He has a plan to save the shop
And Christmas

William makes a beautiful reindeer
From leaves and twigs
Her uses her as a centre piece
For a wonderful winter window
Will William’s winter window
Be enough to save the bookshop?

William goes to be worried
And is woken by a tinkling sound
The reindeer in his winter window
Has come to life
Bracken the reindeer is magic

William and his dog Rufford
Are whisked off through the sky
On a starlit sleigh ride
Above the snowy streets, fields and forests
William asks Bracken if they can save the shop
She reassures William
That together they will find a way

As they fly over the rooftops
Bracken tells William that words can be magic
And together they call out all the shiniest words
That they know
As they do so the houses below
Begin to dazzle and glitter
Shimmer and glow
The town sparkled like never before

Soon they are back at the bookshop
Words really are a wonder
And Willliam has seen the power of their magic
Thanks to Bracken

The next day William wakes
To the sounds of chatter and laughter
The street below is filled with people
And so too is the shop
Words of Wonder is filled to bursting
With customers browsing, buying
Talking and reading together
All because of William’s winter window
And some very special Christmas magic
Some very special bookshop magic

Oh there is SO much to love about this
Brilliant and beautiful book
I know that we will be reading
This one together a lot
Over the coming weeks
Such a joyous celebration of
The festive season
And the excitement and anticipation
That advent brings
As we countdown to Christmas
A story of hope
Of magic
Of believing that anything is possible
Especially at Christmas
Especially in a shop filled with books
That are filled with the most powerful magic of all
Stories and words!

Wishing you a magical very merry and bookish Christmas

Here are our 12 activity ideas for …+

The Winter Wish Project

1 – Measure your height in books
2 – Draw and describe your dream bookshop. What would you call it?
3 – Make a reindeer using natural materials from the local area
4 – Design and create your very own winter window
5 – Make a colourful winter street scene
6 – List all the shiniest words you know
7 – Write a poem using the words you have collected
8 – Recite your poem while adding some glitter to your winter street
9 – Visit a bookshop this festive season and buy a book if you can
10 – Start a new family tradition and join in with The Jolabokaflod
11 – Read The Christmas Book Flood to help with Number 6
12 – Design a poster advertising your favourite local bookshop

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