Humphrey's Christmas - Sally Hunter

...Humphrey Books***

Humphrey's Corner
Humphrey's Birthday
Humphrey's Bedtime
Humphrey's Day
Humphrey's Family
Humphrey's Playtime
Humphrey's Garden
Humphrey's Colours

***Price & Availability***

This hardback is available for the publishing price of £6.99 from Amazon.

ISBN No. 0141380681
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***Background***

My final Christmas book review is one about a charming elephant called Humphrey. He was created by Sally Hunter and there are a number of books written about him. Humphrey is part of a large elephant family and he is only 3 but has lots of fun with his big sister Lottie who is 5. You can find lots more about these lovely characters at www.humphreys-corner.com.

The designs have been turned into cards, soft toys and they also appear on children's clothes and bedding sets.

***The Story***

The book starts,

"Humphrey and Lottie love Christmastime…watching the soft, floaty snow."

As we go through the book we see Humphrey and his sister Lottie getting ready for Christmas. They help lick out the bowl after their mummy has made the Christmas cake and we see them opening the last door on their advent calendar. Lottie draws a special card for Farther Christmas and they remember to leave a carrot for Rudolph.

Before they snuggle down for the night, their mummy reads them a special story about Baby Jesus and they both have a lovely cuddle.

In the morning we see them both playing with their new toys with wrapping all over the floor.

***The Illustrations***

The pictures in this book are soft and delicate and are set on a creamy coloured background with faded greyish coloured writing. Everything is gentle and the illustrations match the story perfectly.

***My Thoughts***

This simple but delightful book is lovely to look at in the run up to Christmas. It shows the favourite character Humphrey helping out and getting ready for Christmas day.

Despite the gorgeous pictures and lovely story, my 4-year-old son hasn't taken to this book as much as the other Christmas ones we've been looking at in the past few weeks. I'm not really sure why. Perhaps it's the pastel colours or the story being a little too simplified for his age.

I do think it would be much more popular with a younger child or maybe girls would appreciate it more as it is a beautiful storybook and one to be appreciated by adults as well as young ones.

It's the illustrations that make this book a treat for me as the detail on the pictures is beautifully detailed and they are really set off nicely on the cream and almost old looking styled background. It reminds me of an old book where the pages are starting to turn yellow and has a warm feeling to it.

My favourite page in the book is when Humphrey and Lottie are looking at the card they have made for Father Christmas. They are sat with their pyjamas on, in front of a warm roaring fire and there are stockings hung from the fireplace. They each have a mug sitting beside them and it reminds me of when I used to visit my gran as she had a real fire and I used to sit there before going to bed with a hot cup of chocolate drink. The warm feeling from the picture jumps right off the page at you and I get all cosy just looking at it.

This book is lovely despite my son not really being a fan of it and I would recommend it for a 2 or 3 year old as a Christmas treat.

***Other Humphrey Books***

Humphrey's Corner
Humphrey's Birthday
Humphrey's Bedtime
Humphrey's Day
Humphrey's Family
Humphrey's Playtime
Humphrey's Garden
Humphrey's Colours

***Price & Availability***

This hardback is available for the publishing price of £6.99 from Amazon.

ISBN No. 0141380681
 

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