One of the loveliest things to do at Christmas is cuddle up and enjoy a good picture book together – and these classic stories have really stood the test of time. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was the first recipient of BookTrust's Lifetime Achievement Award. Didn’t realize that until adulthood :) bought this book as soon as my daughter was born to read to her each Christmas season. Lovely time for read aloud with what I think are British traditions of Christmas pudding (Lucy and Tom stir), making cards, how they decorate and even what they give as gifts to each family member.

Yes, it is set in time, with ethnicity and class embedded, but is for me a beloved classic, and à compassionate and keenly observed account. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. I used to read it every Christmas to my children when they were young and now I'm reading it again to my grandchildren. Shirley Hughes was born in West Kirby, near Liverpool, in 1927, and studied fashion and dress design at Liverpool Art School, before continuing her studies at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford.

A rubber in the shape of a dog and a ‘smart bow-tie on elastic’ for dad, a ‘comb in a case for Granny with A for Alison on it (because that’s Granny’s name)’ and best of all ‘a pen for Lucy which changes into different colours’. I grew up with Lucy and Tom in the late Seventies and early Eighties, so revisiting the book now feels rather like looking at my own childhood Christmases, laid out in lovely thick gouache. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. And be sure to check out my bio page to learn a little about me and the Picture Book/Chapter Book Calendars I sell on Etsy!

We talk about the differences in the way these children celebrate Christmas in England and they celebrate Christmas in the states.This wonderful heartwarming story was read to me as a child and brings back so many happy memories as I now have the privilege of reading it to my niece. Her books include the wordless picture book Up and Up , collection of rhymes and poems Out and About , and for the very young The Nursery Collection . Hughes is so prolific and I highly recommend seeking out her picture books- not always so easy to find on this side of the ocean.

The illustrations are so detailed and the story is very cute with hilariously accurate depictions of children’s emotions. I'm sure I get more pleasure from it every year that passes, enjoying the wonderful illustrations and the simple story of a Christmas with family and friends together. My boys found it inspirational--and pointed out that we did Christmas crackers earlier in the week rather than at Christmas dinner. Shirley Hughes has won the Other Award, the Eleanor Farjeon Award, and the Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration twice, for Dogger in 1977 and for Ella's Big Chance in 2003. It's the first Christmas book I've ever read that showed the children "posting" their letters to Santa by burning them in the fireplace.Hughes has a lovely endearing style to her drawing - I will certainly be reading and collecting many other titles from her. In 1930s Liverpool, young Bronwen and Dylan find kindness from an unexpected source when they are frightened by what they think is a ghost on Christmas Eve. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.