My First Elmer Christmas

Name: William Joseph
Price range: $

by David McKee

Interest age: 2 to 3

Published by Andersen Press, 2021

Adventure
Around the world
Board books
Funny

About this book

It is Christmas time and Elmer, the patchwork elephant, takes the young elephants to select a Christmas tree. They have great fun throwing snowballs and building a snow-elephant before helping Elmer to carry the enormous tree down the mountain, where all the animals come together to decorate it. The young elephants would love to catch a glimpse of Papa Red if he visits them that night, but will the excitable youngsters be able to stay quietly hidden?

This short, simple tale will help toddlers to understand how a story is structured, with a beginning, middle and end. Colourful illustrations add lots of visual interest and children will enjoy spotting the elephants who are hiding from Papa Red. This will help to develop their observation skills and also demonstrate that, in picture books, a visual narrative often runs in parallel to the words.

The large board book is shaped like a tree, with sturdy pages that are easy for small hands to grasp and turn.

A charming tale, which perfectly captures the excitement of Christmas for a young audience.

About the author

David McKee was born and brought up in South Devon, where he went from grammar school to Plymouth Art College. Whilst still at college he started selling one-off cartoons to newspapers and on graduation, he began to contribute to such publications as Punch, the Times Education Supplement and Reader's Digest. His first book, Two Can Toucan, was published in 1964 and since then he has written and illustrated numerous children's books. Of his many beloved quirky characters, Elmer the Elephant and Mr Benn are possibly the most well-known. He died in April 2022, aged 87.