The Twelve Days of Christmas illustrated by Anna Wright

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Image Source: Pituitary Foundation 

In previous years I have talked about many of my most favourite Christmas books. As we are now in December I plan to spend a few days looking different versions of the famous poem - The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Image Source: ABCNotation - includes sound file

Once you have read the poem of The Twelve Days of Christmas these books then become a way to enjoy glorious art and different text interpretations.

In this version the quirky things include:

• Frogs using the gold rings rather like hula hoops
• A mother pig and her piglets for the eight maids a milking
• Fluttering butterflies are the nine ladies dancing
• Grasshoppers in top hats are the ten lords a-leaping
• Woodpeckers pecking trees in a snowy landscape are the twelve drummers

One of my favourite pages shows the swans:

The delight for me, however, was the inventiveness with the presents. Book Bag

... a whimsical, delightful take when more literal ones have been read and put aside, as well as a handsome gift book ...  Kirkus

Anna Wright comes from Scotland and she uses collage, pen, ink and paint in her work. It is worth taking a few minutes to explore her web site. She designs greeting cards, homewares, and she sells prints of her art. 

These are two other books by Anna Wright which (judging by the covers) look very special.