Every single year without fail from about the age of 0 to about the age of 15 I got an annual for Christmas...

Day 22 on our Booky Advent Calendar and the big day is SO CLOSE now..!

For Day 21 on our Advent Calendar, a magical trip to one of our favourite festive destinations...!

For Booky Advent Calendar Day 20 we're revisiting a book that we've included in our Christmas round-up every year since it was published...

There are certain movies that just 'have to be done' around this time of year...

A super special preview of a title that's not actually out until March 2017 is our Booky Advent calendar title behind door number 17...

We're sneaking this one in as a bit of a cheeky Nativity reference. Our Booky Advent Calendar Book of the Week this week is "King Baby" by Kate Beaton...

Cats and Dogs get almost equal coverage on the blog but today we're clawing one back for the kitties (did you see what we did there?)

Once again we're recommending a non-festive book for our Advent Calendar selection, but this one should find its way onto many a christmas list.

Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston have combined their colossal creative talent to write the perfect love letter to books.

Charlotte nodded as soon as she saw the cover of "A Child of Books" because she instantly recognised herself there. She is, indeed, a child of books and in this whirlwind journey you're joining the young girl in the story - just as you've joined Charlotte over the 6 years we've been writing this book blog - to discover the amazing worlds tucked between the pages of a really good story.

Mixing text from classic stories in with the book's minimalist but beautiful illustrations is a stroke of genius, concrete poetry for kids and what a great idea to do that (particularly in the end papers where we read through the massive list of stories there, noting which we'd read and hadn't read).

We were both children of books too...so how could we fail to love this story!

Gathering up a friend to join her on her book journey, the girl whisks him away to lands afar, to challenge beastly monsters and explore distant castles. To rest a moment in a word-scape and calmly survey an amazing scene or two...

Our favourite page spread, just LOOK at that scary beast!

We both loved the contextual use of text in each page spread, delving into stories I love but Charlotte has yet to discover (but fingers crossed one day she will love Dracula and Frankenstein as much as I do!)

It's a feast for the eyes for sure, and a beautifully told homage to stories.

"A Child of Books" is out now, published by Walker Books (Kindly supplied for review)

For our 12th day of christmas books, how about a gorgeous version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

Taking William Morris designs and using them as the basis for the book, Liz Catchpole has brought her own artwork in and has come up with the most gorgeous illustrative plates for each page spread, beautifully synchronised with Morris's own intricate and detailed work, derived from national collections and of course the V & A's own exhibits of his craft.

I've long been a fan of William Morris (in fact on a daily basis I carry around a William Morris clipboard that my dear Nan gave to me as a kid, usually with a ton of paper clipped to it for sketching).

I love the fact that here was someone pioneering amazing graphic design long before anyone had access to a computer. His perfect eye for symmetry and detail work beautifully with Liz's glorious seasonal designs.

Two Turtle Doves!

As you can see, the Morris designs have been given a really nice textured look in contrast to Liz's sharp artwork.

Such a beautiful version of the traditional Christmas carol

Sumptuously and luxuriously bound in a wonderful cloth cover again mimicking Morris' style perfectly, it's a real Christmas winner that should delight your little ones.

"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is out now, published by V & A Publishing. 

If there's one thing sure to keep kids busy over the festive period when the batteries in their other toys have run down (or been removed by parents who can't stand all the electronic beeping and burping), it's a fantastic colouring book or two.

A delicious December-ey book now for our 10th day of Christmas...It's "Snowflake in my Pocket" by Rachel Bright and Yu Rong...

Our second Booky Advent Calendar Book of the Week for 2016 is a rollicking romp that we just couldn't resist...

Penguin is the star of a whole series of brilliant books for little ones by Salina Yoon. This time Penguin is ready for an amazing Christmas with family and friends...

You'd better not run, you'd better not hide, you'd better shout out, I'm telling you why...here's Alex T. Smith with a special seasonal and brilliant new Claude story!

Our third entry in the Booky Advent Calendar has a lovely wintry feel and features our favourite bird, the adorable Robin...

Our first Booky Advent Calendar Book of the Week for 2016 is a stunning snow-bound tale full of dark delights...!

We're kicking off our Booky Advent Calendar for 2016 with a book that shows a lot of cheek - and (almost) quite a few other bits too!