The Twelve Days of Christmas or Grandma is Overly Generous

by Alex T. Smith

A Christmas story about the twelve days of Christmas where grandma’s present get more and more outrageous.

Genres: Christmas, Picture Books, Childrens

56 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2020

About the author

Alex T. Smith is the creator of the much-loved and bestselling Claude fiction series for early readers. He was the official World Book Day illustrator in 2014, and other recent accolades include the UKLA Picture Book Award for Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion and the Children’s Book of the World Illustration Award for illustrating Dodie Smith’s The Hundred and One Dalmatians. When not working, Alex enjoys doodling in his sketchbook, reading, people-watching, and eavesdropping. He lives under the watchful eye of his small canine companions, who are a constant source of inspiration to him.

Reviews

[Gemma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lot of fun. I ended up singing / reading most of it..
It brought about a lot of giggles in our house.
Nice illustrations too.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another fun one that both my boys actually read. We are Alex T. Smith fans here anyway and his warmth and quirky sense of humor play great here as the gifts from Grandma begin to veer off track from the original song yet keep the same zany spirit going. The gift for the twelfth day of Christmas had us all laughing, and I love the final page where Grandma actually receives a heartfelt "thank you" letter from her granddaughter. I have loved sending and receiving letters, cards and gifts for as long as I can remember (I once had over 50 pen-pals when I was a kid) so I completely adored the format of this book where we see the mailing label, stamp and postmark for every package -- I can tell Smith shares my love for all such postal paraphernalia and you can feel his creator's delight shine through.

[Alice Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely, funny book for KS1 that follows the song ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ with some unexpected and hilarious twists that children will love!

There’s lots of intertextual links to other books like Janet and Alan Ahlberg’s ‘Each Peach Pear Plum’.

It also offers opportunities for my children to develop their phonics, speech and use of alliteration.

The context of letter-writing would be ideal for the children to write their own Christmas letters about what they would like to receive, using alliteration and exciting language, such as balancing and drumming.

[Katie Cat Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picture book. Christmas. Humor.

Story: The twelve days of Christmas with some interesting substitutions and fun illustrations.

Language: Big text, repetition, large scale illustrations.

Characters: A young girl PoC receiving letters from her grandmother.

The story is fun but I especially enjoyed the authors note at the end. Great Christmas book.

[Steven Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a few different lines to the normal twelve days of Christmas, Bought it to read to grandchildren.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best version of the twelve days of Christmas.
It was funny and the pictures were brilliant

[Jaye Latts · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun concept on the Twelve Days of Christmas! Illustrations are beautiful and it'll be fun to read aloud!

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bonkers fun, with fabulously detailed illustrations.
I love the company names & addresses, particularly the first one.
Read and approved by a bonkers Grandma.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolutely loved this!