Blossom Possum and the Christmas Quacker by Gina Newton

Ill. by Christina Booth. Scholastic, 2013. ISBN 9781742839592.
(Age: 3+) Christmas. Australian animals. It was Santa Claus' last stop for the night. Feeling hot and tired he decides to have a snooze and tells his reinroos to wake him 'up in five'. Blossom Possum found him fast asleep and couldn't wake him up. She ran off to seek help and found Rocky Cocky, Echo Gecko and Toey Joey who couldn't wake him either. So off they go and find some more animals who might be able to solve the problem of saving Bush Christmas.
This is a Christmas story that kids will enjoy because of the rhyming of the animals' names. Combat Wombat and Toey Joey are fun names among many others and children would have the opportunity to remember them and chant along as each set of new animals is added. The rhyming in the story is not so easy and occasionally makes this a difficult story to read aloud.
Kilmeny Niland illustrated the first book about Blossom Possum, Blossom Possum: the sky is falling down-under, and following in her footsteps, Christina Booth's illustrations are fabulous and bring the story alive. The colours of the Australian landscape are beautifully captured. Each of the animals has distinctive and often humorous characteristics which will add to children's enjoyment of this Australian Christmas story.
Pat Pledger