Booky Advent Calendar Day 4 is the second entry on our list from Brian Wildsmith, and another brilliant cloth-bound foil embossed title reissued from OUP.

Brian's version of the classic nativity story is given a new lease of life in this special gift edition.

Once, a long time ago, in a town called Nazareth, a little donkey was born. 

Oh yes indeed, it's that time of the year again, a couple of dozen sleeps until Christmas - and once again we're wheeling out an awesome selection of christmassy titles for our December review schedule. Some brand new and never seen before, some well loved classics that have always been in our reading pile around this most wonderful time of the year.

Bring on...

THE BOOKY ADVENT CALENDAR!

And bring on the book behind Door Number 1 as we take a look at a gorgeous cloth-bound new edition reprint of Brian Wildsmith's timeless version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" - out now from OUP / Oxford Children's Books.

The perfect gift for every day of Christmas, Brian takes us on an enchanting journey through The Twelve Days of Christmas (a rhyme that we somehow still manage to get wrong, so it's rather handy to have a gorgeous book to refer to so we can sing it right at last!) 

Here's a funny book with such a hilarious payoff that we just couldn't resist its charms...

We've seen lots of books based on hit songs, but we think this one is definitely very timely and apt for the sort of weather we've been having lately...

This week's Chapter Book of the Week was a recent holiday re-read - so I'm hauling it out of our Chapter Book schedules to a place it more rightly deserves to be...

For our first book of the week this week we feel it's vitally important for children to be able to see themselves in books, but what about dads? Does this dressy fellah feel familiar to you?

Prepare to be stunned, touched and entirely wrapped up in this utterly amazing book...

Oh my, he's back! The fuel for many of my childhood nightmares is back...!

So this is where it all began! Our Chapter Book of the Week is the fantastic "The Demon Headmaster" by Gillian Cross...

Hello there Easter Bunny. You're a little early aren't you, we're barely washing down the last of our Christmas cake!!

Space! Oh you know we do love a good spacey book, particularly one that tells a great story and encourages learning through play...

"Zany" is one of those words that we don't get to use often enough in modern life...

Oh my, if ever a book was perfectly tailored for our slightly bizarre sense of humour, it's definitely this one...

Max is always getting into trouble, his crazy clockwork inventions aren't well received and soon poor Max finds himself out of a job, wondering what to do next.

Max's village lives under constant threat from a huge fire breathing nasty dragon. The dragon rules the roost and in conjunction with Lizzie - the blacksmith's daughter, Max comes up with a stunning plan to rid the village of the menace once and for all. He will build a gigantic clockwork dragon!

Max's plan is dizzyingly fiendish, and with Lizzie's help they clamber into the tin belly of their clanking beast ready to face off against the real Dragon. But what's the one problem clockwork things suffer from? What happens when your marvellous invention starts to run down mid-battle!!

Can Max's ingenuity and Lizzie's mechanical expertise save the day?

This is a rollicking and thoroughly entertaining story with pint-sized heroes at its heart, taking on a big bully by using their brains. We love the inventiveness of this, coupling Jonathan's pacey and exciting story with Elys Dolan's wonderful creative illustrations.

Charlotte's best bit: Reading out the mechanical dragon's lines in a big booming voice

Daddy's Favourite bit: A fab and original story putting a brilliant brainy pair of kids front and centre in the midst of the excitement. Brilliantly entertaining!



(Kindly sent to us for review by Jonathan Emmett / Oxford University Press)

Charlie Merrick's Misfits by Dave Cousins (Oxford University Press)

Ever After High - The Unfairest of them All by Shannon Hale (Little, Brown)

Disaster Diaries - Aliens by R. McGeddon and Jamie Littler (Little, Brown)