What do you wish for by Jane Godwin illustrated by Anna Walker

WISH

I wish I could write this heading in gold just as it appears on the cover and title page of 

What do you wish for?

Here are a few wishes (from the end papers see below):

I wish we could have pink lemonade

I wish I could drive a bus

I wish I would get taller

I wish my teddy would talk to me

I wish I was able to fly

I wish I had sparkly shoes

I wish stories could come true

The children in this special Christmas book have some magical rituals.

"Every year there was a Christmas party in the park at the end of the street.  Ruby and her friends put on a show, with songs and costumes and real curtains.  But first, each of them wrote a Christmas wish to hang on the tree."

Everyone writes their wishes for the tree except for Ruby.  Her wish seems too big to fit on a little piece of paper. Ruby thinks about all the things that make Christmas special.  My favourite is when she mentions the smell of baking.  This is a strong memory for me, especially of mince pies and special Christmas biscuits with silver decorations.  We do discover Ruby's wish but you need to read this book because it really is too big to explain here.

This is a truly Australian Christmas book - we see the family enjoying an ocean swim on Christmas day and lunch outside in the sunshine.

I am really looking forward to sharing this magical book with our youngest students over the next few weeks as we lead up to Christmas.  You can see a few of my other seasonal favourites below all of which can be found in this blog and a review of Peggy which was also illustrated by the talented Anna Walker.