Maisy's Christmas Blog!

It’s almost time for Christmas! Maisy is busy getting into the spirit of things by decorating her tree and giving presents to all her friends. It’s got the Character team here at Walker HQ thinking about our own special traditions, and the ways which we share the festive season with our loved ones. We’ve written about some of our favourites!

Plus see below for your chance to win a set of Maisy Christmas books and a Maisy plush toy.

Ruby, Assistant Editor

For me, Christmas has always been about spending time with friends and family, and finding ways of showing them how much I love them… but it’s also about eating a lot of food. It’s the one time of year where the level of sugar that I want to eat on a daily basis is socially acceptable. So how to best combine my twin passions of that warm, Christmassy feeling of family and homecoming with my desire to eat my body weight in biscuits?

A gingerbread house!

Every year, my friend and I get together and spend an afternoon baking and going overboard with the sprinkles and edible glitter. It always gets me in a festive mood, and the consequent sugar coma is topped only by the feeling of love and goodwill I get from sharing the house with all the people that make me feel most at home. I’m sure Maisy would approve.

This is likely the exact moment I had my revelation

Mara, Senior Editor

In my family, the Christmas season officially starts once the tree goes up. We would drive to the Christmas tree farm together, and after carefully considering each option (pine or fir? tall or fat – or both?), choose the right one to take home with us.

Once my parents had strung on the fairy lights, it was time to decorate. We had boxes and boxes of ornaments – wooden nutcrackers that my mother had saved from when she was a child… glass-blown ornaments that my scientist father had made in the lab… the clothespin-reindeer and origami snowflakes that my brother and sister and I made at school each year, and so many more!

It wasn’t without a struggle; my siblings and I argued excessively over who got to hang the tiny fur mittens and the shiny green pickle! But when we had finally worked everything out, we were sure that we had the most beautiful, special Christmas tree ever.

 Reading our favourite Christmas books beside the tree.

My tree this year – still covered in ornaments!

Isabelle, Art Director

One of my best Christmas memories is a culinary one! I grew up in the French countryside, and my mum was the most fantastic cook. However, the traditional Christmas chestnut cream log – which my brothers would fight about – was not my favourite thing, and I never thought it was exceptional in any way.

One year, we were all invited to spend the Epiphany with my dad’s friend (who later in life opened his own restaurant), and they served the traditional pudding, "galette des rois”. First, the smell of the almond puff pastry fresh out of the oven was amazing. When I took my first bite, it was the best dessert I ever tasted. It was sweet but not too sweet, melting inside and crunchy outside, warm and simply delicious. And there was also a little charm hidden inside… whoever found it became the king or queen and got to wear the golden crown. How exciting!

Last year – only forty years later – I tried to bake “galette des rois” myself for the first time. I invited my lovely English neighbours, who were polite enough to eat it with us. I don’t think the taste was anywhere near the one I had back then, but it was about sharing traditions, discovering something new and having fun!

This year, I am looking forwards to Christmas, of course… but I can’t wait for January the 6th when we shall have “galette des rois” again.

 Me and my nephew

WIN a Maisy Christmas prize!

We have copies of Maisy's Christmas Tree and Maisy's Christmas Presents plus a Maisy soft plush toy to give away to one lucky winner! For your chance to win just email your name and address to competitions@walker.co.uk with 'Maisy Christmas' in the subject line for your chance to win. 

Competition closes on 21st December 2017. Terms and conditions apply.

Picture Book Christmas Gift Guide 2017

Now we are officially in December it is time to get gift buying. We believe that books make the best gifts (we may be a little biased) so we've brought together a list of some of our favourite titles from 2017. We have something for everyone from timeless classics to cosy bedtime stories. 

Also An Octopus

Every story starts with nothing, so ... why not an octopus who wants to fly in a spaceship? A delightfully meta picture book that will set imaginations soaring.

From Benji Davies comes a metafictive story about ... how to build a story! 

Debut author Maggie Tokuda-Hall sets up a funny, smart and warm-hearted story all about storytelling, then hands the baton to imaginative readers, who will be more than prepared to take it away.

A Busy Day for Birds

Peck, hop, flap and make some noise in this story full of colour, rhyme and feathered friends – now in paperback!

Flap your wings, fly up high, open your beak and sing in this fun action rhyme story about fantastical birds by multi-award-winning author Lucy Cousins. "Can you imagine ... just for one day ... you're a busy bird? Yes, a bird! Hooray!" Can you stand on one leg like a flamingo or waddle like a penguin? How about say "cock-a-doodle-doo!", "tuwit-tuwoo" and even "tra-la-la"? A bouncy read-aloud book to be enjoyed; beautifully illustrated with bold, bright colours and packed with all sorts of wild and wonderful birds!

Mrs Mole, I'm Home!

Root for Morris the spectacle-wearing mole to find his way home in this laugh-out-loud story from Jarvis, the creator of Alan's Big, Scary Teeth.

Morris the mole can’t find his glasses anywhere. So, he decides to go on without them. With perfect comic timing and a whole lot of heart, Jarvis will have all readers rooting for Morris to find his family, and rejoicing in the idea that – glasses or no glasses – you can always make your way back to home sweet home.

King of the Sky

A breathtaking new picture book by children's author Nicola Davies, illustrated by Laura Carlin, winner of the Bratislava Illustration Biennale and the Bologna Ragazzi Prize for Illustration. Starting a new life in a new country, a young boy feels lost and alone – until he meets an old man who keeps racing pigeons. Together they pin their hopes on a race across Europe and the special bird they believe can win it: King of the Sky. 

Goodnight Everyone

From the multi award-winning picture book maker Chris Haighton comes the ultimate bedtime book.

A series of exquisitely coloured cut pages of increasing size introduce woodland families – bears, deer, rabbits and teeny, tiny mice – who are all beginning to feel really ... rather ... tired ... YAWN! "Dear me," says Great Big Bear, "it must be time for bed!" But Little Bear is certainly not sleepy – he's wide awake! (For now...) With sublime, starry night time scenes Chris Haughton creates a lulling bedtime read.

Triangle

Multi-award-winning, bestselling duo Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen conspire again on a slyly funny tale about some very sneaky shapes.

Meet Triangle. He is going to play a sneaky trick on his friend, Square. Or so Triangle thinks... 

Visually stunning and full of wry humour, here is a perfectly-paced treat that flips the traditional concept book, and approaches it from a whole new angle.

Owl Babies

A special 25th anniversary edition of a modern classic reassuring young children that Mummy will always come home.

"The perfect picture book" Guardian 

Never has the plight of young ones who miss their mum been so sensitively told or so beautifully rendered as in this tale from picture book masters, Patrick Benson and Martin Waddell.

The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse

They may have been swallowed, but they have no intention of being eaten... A new comedy from the unparalleled team of Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen.

When a woeful mouse is swallowed up by a wolf, he quickly learns he is not alone: a duck has already set up digs and, boy, has that duck got it figured out! Turns out it’s pretty nice inside the belly of the beast – there's delicious food, elegant table settings and, best of all, dancing. And there’s something more: no more fear of being eaten by a wolf! The award-winning Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen of Sam and Dave Dig a Hole and Extra Yarn offer a tale of cooperation and creative cuisine that is sure to go down easy.

Pick a Pine Tree

Pick a pine tree from the lot – slim and tall, or short and squat! Long straight limbs or branches bent... Mmm! Just smell that piney scent!

From Jarvis and author Patricia Toht comes a beautiful, irresistible Christmas gift book that all begins with … picking a pine tree! Brimming over with the excitement of being with family at the festive season, a gorgeously rhythmical, read-aloud narrative accompanied by warm, joyful art celebrates all the familiar rituals of decorating the tree – from digging out jam-packed boxes of trimmings, stringing tinsel, to, at last, turning on those twinkly fairy lights.

Ellie and Lump's Very Busy Day

Join Ellie and Lump – two toddler elephants – on their very busy (very noisy) day!

In this big-hearted and bouncy read-aloud story about a special day in the life of two adorable elephants, Ellie and Lump are bubbling with energy from the moment they wake up.

Illustrator Becky Palmer captures the joy and excitement of a day out with mum and the thrills of planning a party, while the read-aloud text with wonderfully rhythmical sound effects makes this a fizzy first reading experience perfect for sharing with toddlers.

Play

From the award-winning creator of Hug, Tall and Yes comes another classic picture book for the very youngest children. Using only a handful of words, Jez Alborough skilfully tells the bedtime tale of Bobo the chimp. The sun is still up and this little chimp wants to play with his jungle friends, but then the sun goes down and he’s all alone… 

The perfect bedtime read for every playful little monkey!

You can pick up these books at your local bookshop!

Jarvis takes over the Tate Modern Turbine Hall Bookshop window!

This week Jarvis, illustrator of Pick a Pine Tree, got into the Christmas spirit with an amazing winter window design at the Tate Modern Turbine Hall Bookshop. 

The Picture Books team helped Jarvis assemble and stick together his eleven HUGE strips of wallpaper; the template for his window art. Taking 5 hours to paint, it really is a thing of beauty! 

You can see Jarvis hard at work in the pictures below. If you are by the Tate Modern before Christmas, be sure to pop in to see this fantastic Christmas scene!

Check out Jarvis' fun animated trailer for Pick a Pine Tree below and pick up a copy at your local bookshop!