Father Christmas Goes on Holiday

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View books by Raymond Briggs.

Not the best option... - Rated
As a teacher of English as a foreign language (in Portugal), I was a bit disappointed with 'Father Christmas Goes on Holiday'... It is not advisable for storytelling; some drawings are too tiny, as well as the words on the speech bubbles. Besides, I don't think the plot will appeal to young children and the kind of humour that is used is, in my personal opinion, a bit far-fetched... If you're looking for a great Christmas book, with plenty of surprises, flaps, etc., then you'd rather go for 'Dear Santa', by Rod Campbell, which is certainly a better option!

A great follow on for his original Father Christmas book - Rated
If you liked the original, you'll like this as well, more of the same, lots of pictures for the little ones to examine, and interesting for them to imagine Father Christmas out of his normal context of snow and sleighs, and in the sunshine instead.

These are relatively slim books, but dont let that put you off, there is lots of detail in the pictures and the story that you can bring out with your imagination and the childs. But because of that I'd recommend buying both together if you dont already have the original.

ho ho ho - Rated
Father Christmas Goes on Holdiay is really funny and enjoyable for kids and parents. When I read it to my 5 year old daughter I thought that it might be too sophisticated for her but she loved it, as did my 7 year old son. Raymond Briggs does not 'talk down' to his audience and includes information that many young children would not know about (ie there is some dialogue in French but although my kids don't know any French this did not in any way make the book less enjoyable). We already have Father Christmas by Briggs and we found Father Christmas goes on Holiday just as entertaining and engaging. If you like Raymond Briggs irreverant sense of humour you'll like this book.