Christmas is coming by Susannah McFarlane
Ill. by Lachlan Creagh. Little Mates (series). Scholastic, 2012.
ISBN 9781 74283 168 8.
(Ages: 3+) Australian animals, Christmas. Another in the
Little Mates series, this one has all the animals getting ready for
Christmas. Each double page shows and tells of the animals as they
prepare the traditional things ready for the big day. With a stress
on the letter c, each page offers two animals, a wombat and galah,
called Connor and Chloe, as they write their cards and send them off
to places such as Collangatta, the next page writing their letters
to Santa Claus. Following this is cooking Christmas cakes and
chocolate crackles, while collecting a Christmas tree from the
co-op. Al in all, this is a wonderfully evocative presentation of
the plans families make for Christmas, and could be well used in the
classroom as a discussion starter for how members of the class
celebrate this day.
With lively illustrations, the animals themselves add to the fun of
the preparations, finally eating too much and then playing cricket.
With a stress on one letter and the words often beginning with that
letter, one of the the teaching uses of this series is very clear.
Fran Knight