Santa's sack is bulging with amazing Christmas books this year, so before you start adding lots and lots of books to your wish list, we thought we'd show you a huge selection of gorgeous titles from one of our favourite publishers.

Nosy Crow's books are always of the highest quality, with engaging, endearing and enduring characters that will become firm Christmas favourites with your little ones. So let's dig right into that sack and pull out our first book!

"Pip and Posy: The Christmas Tree" by Axel Scheffler is a fabulous new story with everyone's favourite rabbit and mouse.

Pip and Posy are getting into the festive swing of things, and are decorating the Christmas Tree with a ton of lovely christmas decorations.

The only problem is, every time Posy leaves the room there seems to be one less decoration on the tree when she comes back.

It's only when she finds Pip lying on the sofa, looking rather rotund, and groaning about a tummy ache that she realises what's happened. Will Pip learn his lesson? A festive treat and a nice twist of an ending makes this utterly essential for little ones.

"Pip and Posy: The Christmas Tree" by Axel Scheffler is out now, published by Nosy Crow. 

Next in our book sack...

Something for really tiny tinies who may be enjoying their first Christmas.

The ticklishly fun "Where's Santa Claus?" by Ingela P. Arrhenius is beautifully designed to be a sensory experience for tiddlers who love "lift the flap" fun, and there's a mirror tucked into the story as well so they can truly feel part of the story.

Help Santa find all the christmas characters from naughty elves to fuzzy reindeer, and of course the most important christmas character of all - you!

It's a really superb little sturdy book this, perfect as a stocking filler for little ones who love bold bright colours and simple shapes, and lots of interactive elements in their stories.

"Where's Santa Claus?" by Ingela P. Arrhenius is out now, published by Nosy Crow. 

Next up, a rather special moggy indeed!

In "Sammy Claws the Christmas Cat" by Lucy Rowland and Paula Bowles you'll meet Santa's furriest little helper.

Santa's kitten Sammy will sleep absolutely ANYWHERE, and like most cats, that usually leads to trouble.

This time Sammy has ended up sleeping in a box on Christmas Eve - completely unaware that it's a present box.

Before he knows it, Sammy finds himself wrapped up as a Christmas parcel and bundled onto the sleigh with the other presents!

EEKS MEOW!

How will Sammy escape? And how will he save the presents from two robbers with plans to steal them all away . . .? A brilliantly exciting Christmas story perfect for cat lovers everywhere, with a truly adorable central character. Blissful!

"Sammy Claws the Christmas Cat" by Lucy Rowland and Paula Bowles is out now, published by Nosy Crow. 

Phew, after all that excitement, what's next?

The next book is a heartfelt and festive story of a lonely little boy and his secret wish - to find a friend. In "The Boy and the Bear" by dream team Tracey Corderoy and Sarah Massini, the lonely little boy receives an invitation to play written on a paper boat!

How mysterious! It seems that he has found the best friend he's been longing for - at last!

But Bear isn't quite the playmate the boy had imagined. If only he knew how to play games properly! But when Bear starts to build a treehouse, the boy is intrigued and a magical summer begins.

As autumn passes and the first winter snowflakes start to fall, the boy is left alone, and only then does he truly realise what he has lost . . . Until at last spring comes again and the friends are joyfully reunited with a very special hug!

A wonderful and touching story that stretches across the seasons, and makes us all wish we could hibernate like Bear! Magical!

"The Boy and the Bear" by Tracey Corderoy and Sarah Massini is out now, published by Nosy Crow.

Next, it's the welcome return of Jan Fearnley's timeless classic "Little Robin Red Vest" - presented in a very special 20th Anniversary edition with new artwork, but the same glorious wintry seasonal story that's a true christmas classic in every sense of the word.

The tale begins one frosty evening, a week before Christmas. 

Christmas in the publishing industry probably starts to gear up sometime around Boxing Day the year before (or so we'd imagine).

Certainly we're long past that red letter day - the day we usually get our first Christmas title to review - and this year once again we'll be bringing you a stunning Booky Advent Calendar full of amazing books to share with your little (and not so little) ones.

What's actually surprised us both this year is not only the sheer number of books we've been sent for review for this year's christmas rundown (and, hah, we're not even done yet by the look of it) but the sheer quality of titles on offer this year. Brand new books that once again prove that children's authors and illustrators are amazing people who can produce stunningly original stories even for the festive season.

We won't start naming names (we'll let you decide just how great these books are once the calendar turns over to December 1st and you see the first Booky Advent Calendar entries popping up). But for us it's felt like this year has been even more amazing than ever, with virtually all of the publishers who are kind enough to send us items for review really pushing the boat out with a spectacular lineup for Q4, the time of year when those all-important christmas lists are being made, and (we hope) loads of kids are sticking books down on their lists with gusto.

We have tried to filter our Advent Calendar list down to titles that are festive (or at least have something to do with Christmas, perhaps even crisp winter snow) and it's actually been a true pleasure not only to read the books but to write about them.

That's fairly unusual these days as Charlotte gets older, and is now (worryingly) even progressing swiftly past MG and early chapter readers onto much more wordy fare.

I remember the books that I craved more than anything else as Christmas Presents...

• Annuals (particularly "funny" comic annnuals) - I just couldn't get enough of them, even the cheesiest TV tie ins (happy memories of those awesome Space 1999 annuals, yes showing my age there I fear!)
• The Guinness Book of Records. Again, an easy win for little me and it's great to see that in an increasingly online world, kids still get a kick out of a big fat encyclopaedic roundup of all the tallest, shortest, thinnest, fattest or fastest record breakers on the planet. 
• Anthologies. I am so happy to see these coming back into fashion. We've seen some absolute corkers this year and it's great to see several this year with contributions from some of our most favourite folk working in kidlit today. 
• Non Fiction. Again, nothing would make me happier as a kid than getting a great non-fiction book about cars or planes, or just something cool from DK, Usborne or the like. 

It's that time of the year when frantic parents are doing the mental arithmetic to try and work out how many sleeps there are till Christmas (Quick answer for today: a rather scary 48 sleeps to go! EEEK!) and are also looking for interesting book suggestions to pass on to Santa.

Little Tiger Press / Stripes Publishing have a rather nice selection of titles coming up for Christmas 2012, so dip in, dust the snow off your boots, snuggle down and see if any of these take your fancy...

"When Will It Snow?" by Kathryn White and Alison Edgson

An impatient little bear asks his mummy "Mummy, when will it snow?"
Bears should really be snuggling up underground, getting ready for hibernation but little bear doesn't want to go to sleep, he wants to stay and play in the snow with his friends. Will little bear manage to keep his eyes open long enough to see the first snows of Winter?

Charming illustrations and a heartwarming tale of friendship, "When Will It Snow" might just make you wish for a dusting of the white stuff!



"Ten Shiny Snowflakes" by Russell Julien

A great book for busy little fingers that like texture in books, and the great 'surprise' of watching each tiny shiny snowflake disappear as you make your way through the book. How many snowflakes can you count as they land on the end of your nose (or tongue). Younger children will love the bears and counting out the snowflakes to try and guess which one will 'melt away' next.







"Dear Santa" by Kathryn White and Polona Lovsin

When rabbit and bear find a lost letter to Santa in the woods, they decide to go on an epic journey to make sure it's delivered to the big man himself, Mr Claus.

"Dear Santa" tells the tale of the two friends as they trek through the snow, having many adventures along the way - but will they make it all the way to Santa's grotto before Christmas Eve?






"The Very Sparkly Snowman" by Stephanie Stahl and Veronica Vasylenko

A big, bold and beautifully sparkling snowman is the star of this next tale. Perfect for younger children who will marvel at the way The Very Sparkly Snowman grows and grows with each turn of the page. Textures and cut-outs provide a surprise at every page turn. Just how big will your snowman be when you build one in your garden? Bigger than this happy glittery fellah?







"One Starry Night" by M. Christina Butler and Tina MacNaughton

Little Tiger Press's "Little Hedgehog" books by M. Christina Butler and Tina MacNaughton are well known and well loved. In this tale, we find Little Hedgehog setting out on an exciting journey to track down a night sky filled with shooting stars. Half way through their night-time trek they run into a spot of bother. Will Hedgehog and his friends get to see the dazzling stellar display as darkness falls? Find out in this great addition to the "Little Hedgehog" series.






"Puppy's First Christmas" by Steve Smallman and Alison Edgson

What would it feel like if you hadn't seen Christmas before? A young puppy is confused. Mummy seems to have gone slightly bonkers, pinning up stockings around the house and dragging a tree in! What on earth is going on? Enjoy this snuggly little tale of a puppy's first christmas as puppy's friend cat shows the young scamp what christmas is all about, and how all the fuss and mess makes it all well worth the wait.






"On a Starry Night" by various authors, illustrated by Alison Edgson

This lovely tale of young animals snuggling down to sleep on a snowy night shares their dreams through a series of short stories by some of Little Tiger Press's best known and best loved authors. Find out what a young husky dreams of, how a young goose navigates the night sky and enjoy an anthology of perfect seasonal stories made for bedtime and cocoa.






"The Snow Bear" by Holly Webb

This beautiful and atmospheric chapter book is perfect for young readers. A young girl and her grandfather build an igloo in the garden, with a polar bear to watch over it. As the night draws in, the young girl wakes to find the polar bear cub has come to life, and the garden has transformed into a magical snowy wilderness.

So begins their adventurous journey to find their way back home. Beautifully illustrated with a superb cover by Simon Mendez.