'Tis the Season: A Lift-The-Flap Advent Calendar Full of Christmas Poems - by Richard Jones (Board Book)

Book Synopsis

A spectacular Advent calendar book filled with festive poems, hidden surprises, and a magical fold-out display!

Count down to Christmas with well-loved poets, including Ogden Nash, Nikki Giovanni, John Agard, and Christina Rossetti and joyful artwork from Richard Jones. Peek inside the windows of the house to find a family wrapping presents, look behind a holly bush to find a little mouse, and see what's happening in the town behind a glittering Christmas tree!

This classic collection has a flap to lift alongside a special poem for every day of Advent and a fold-out accordion displaying a beautiful snowy landscape. With sturdy flaps, sparkling foil, and a ribbon-tie closure, this beautiful gift book is designed to be shared together--filling your family with festive cheer, year after year.

Review Quotes

K-Gr 2-Readers will find a daily dose of holiday cheer in this charming poetry Advent calendar lift-the-flap board book. From December 1 until Christmas, each day has a new poem, accompanied by delightful hidden illustrations. Poets, including Ogden Nash, Nikki Giovanni, John Agard, and more, cover topics like winter, snow, animals, and Christmas-there's something to spark everyone's imagination. Poems range in length from a few lines to half a page, so none are too long to hold a child's interest. Each spread has multiple poems with relatively small text for a board book and may deter younger children. The flaps are different shapes and sizes, with the largest being the Christmas Eve poem. Illustrations are beautiful and festive, though they lack the high contrast typical for board books and are smaller than expected. VERDICT A lovely holiday poetry book that would do well in children's nonfiction with other poetry titles.--Kirsten Caldwell, School Library Journal

Okay okay okay okay okay. I am VERY excited to tell you about this book. And I do so out of a place where I was 100% not on board with its premise. I mean, really? A "lift-the-flap Advent Calendar full of Christmas poems"? Sounds like spinach for dinner, folks. Plus how effective would this really be? How many times could you use it? And what about the poems themselves? Are they gonna be a bunch of awful ones by a bunch of dead white people? Sorry, I've been burned before, and that is why the magnificence that is this book truly took me unawares. Let's tackle those concerns I had one-by-one, shall we? First up, the design. A lovely red ribbons allows you to tie the book closed for those times of year when you no longer need it. Open it up and it's an accordion book that can open up to stand by itself on a mantle or table or what have you. The pages are thick, like you'd find in a board book. Each day has a poem and each poem has a flap that reveals something that applies to the poem. The poems themselves? You've got your classics ("The north wind doth blow" and all that). You've got your humor (Ogden Nash!). You've got your variety (Saijo Yao WITH a credited translator, the late great Nikki Giovanni, etc.). And then on top of all of that you've the art of Richard Jones who not only illustrated everything above and under those dang flaps BUT on the opposite side of the accordion pages are these huge, beautiful wintertime images. Boy oh boy, if you ever wanted something Adventy in your home, find this and grab it now before it's gone. This is a keeper.--Betsy Bird, A Fuse #8 Production

Boy oh boy, if you ever wanted something Adventy in your home, find this and grab it now before it's gone. This is a keeper. --Betsy Bird, A Fuse #8 Production

"A lovely holiday poetry book that would do well in children's nonfiction with other poetry titles."--Kirsten Caldwell, School Library Journal

About the Author

Born in Warwickshire, Richard Jones has been living and working in Devon for over 20 years. After leaving university with a first-class degree in graphic design and illustration, he stayed on a little longer to complete a PhD. He spent several years working in a busy children's library, issuing and shelving other artists' picture books, before one day wondering if it wasn't about time he had a proper go at creating one or two himself! Richard now writes and illustrates from the smallest room in his home. Across the roof tops of Exeter, and between the rounded Devon hills, he can just about make out the distant sparkling sea.