Thursday, December 15, 2022

The Snow Angel by Christine Leeson illustrated by Jane Chapman

 


I am a bit behind with my posts this week and with my plan to share twelve books for Christmas. Once again I am sharing a book that is sadly out of print (published in 2006) but you might be lucky and find it in a library. This is a gentle story to share with a young child - it would make a wonderful bedtime story perhaps on Christmas eve. 

There are glitter touches on the cover of this book and also on many pages. The library I visit each week still use date due slips and so I can see this book has been borrowed several times every year at Christmas. I am sure the glitter cover and the huge, beautiful bird and those adoring mice must be the reason.

This is a sweet Christmas story to share with a preschool child. The mice children Daisy and Sam wake up on Christmas morning. The land is covered in snow. Their mother gives them each a parcel of berries and hazelnuts. The young mice decide to save their treats for later because they are keen to get outside and play in the snow. Overhead they see a huge white bird - she looks like an angel. As they watch this beautiful creature falls into the snow. The little mice move closer and they see she is unwell.

"Little mice, can you help me ... My friends and I have flown for days from a land of ice and snow, but last night I lost them in a storm. Now I am so tired and hungry ..."

Stop and think about this. What can these young mice do to help the "angel"? Remember I told you they were saving their Christmas treats.  The beautiful bird is able to eat and rest and eventually she recovers enough to spread her wings and fly away but as she lifts off beautiful white feathers float down onto the little mice. They gather the soft treasures and take them home. Their mother is delighted with the goose feathers that the whole family can now use to line their nest. 

"We'll feel as if we're sleeping in the clouds tonight!".



You can see more books illustrated by Jane Chapman here. In 2016 I talked about another Christmas book by Christine Leeson.


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