How Winston Delivered Christmas: A Christmas Story in Twenty-Four-and-a-Half Chapters

My 4 year old was looking forward to reading each chapter at night. It’s such a lovely way to do an advent calendar without the sweets. The sorry is engaging and not too wordy and there are beautiful pictures.

This quickly became our favourite Christmas book ever! Firstly the book is beautiful to look at - I know you shouldn’t judge it by the cover but the hardback is really well made with metallic details to the front and a ribbon bookmark. The pages are matte effect with beautiful illustrations that gave it a really nostalgic feel.The book is split into 25 chapters so one for each day of advent and against all odds our children asked to read the last part BEFORE opening their presents on Christmas Day?! Each day Winston’s story unfolds and at the end of the chapter you get an activity to do together. Some of these were craft based, some food based, and a couple were ones to think and talk about which was nice as there was something for everyone. They are all really lovely Christmassy things to and things that you will probably pack away with your Christmas decorations and be excited to see again next year. We were genuinely all really excited each night after school to read it and then sit together to do the activities.Some reviews had said that the chapters were a little bit short but they were fine for our 6 and 8 year olds and we found it more manageable to keep up with than a full on Christmas novel like the Christmasaurus. It was also just the right length for us to sit together without someone wandering off bored!The one things that I would advise you do at the end of November is have a flick through the activities and buy any bits and pieces that you need; there’s nothing expensive and most of the things you will have around the house anyway but for a couple we needed bits (wool for example to make a Pom Pom) so next year I will make sure we have everything to hand in a box ready to go!If I had one criticism it would be that some of the baking recipes are a little too brief - the stained glass window biscuit recipe for example doesn’t tell you to add any liquid anywhere (which confused my husband for a while!), however I didn’t feel that in itself was worth losing a star as it really as a beautiful book with a great sentiment. It’s easy to forget that you are actually reading it for the story which is also very heart warming! We will definitely be reading it again next year and seeing how our ideas have changed from this time!

This story is absolutely beautiful.The main story that runs through the book is truly lovely and has a wonderful ending and you also get a fun activity to do each day in the lead up to Christmas to make the month very magical. My daughter loved hearing the latest chapter of Winston’s escapades and then seeing what activities she got to do for the day.I would recommend all parents buy the book early enough before December and read the activities in advance to make sure you have all the bits needed and possibly do a little prep on a couple as most are cute little tasks like this one to make a finger mouse but a couple were baking tasks and we didn’t have the ingredients or time after school.We will definitely refuse this book again next year and maybe cherry pick our favourite activities to repeat.

Having used the first Winston book two Christmases ago, I was delighted to buy this one - and the accompanying audible book too. Life is busy and we’re not always easily able to read the physical book so have enjoyed listening to a couple of chapters en route to festive activities, and even in the house following the book along with audible, or just reading it traditionally.Lovely story, well written, beautifully illustrated and so many great activities. Highly recommended.

I am loving this.I stumbled across this book by chance and was intrigued and so got one on a whim.I am so glad I did.I am really looking forwards to each night to see how the story unfolds.Each day has a chapter and an activity. You dont have to do the activities on the assigned day or at all. I will be dipping in and out of them, but it's worth taking time to see what they are in advance and plan the ones that you want to do to make sure you have all the nessary bits to hand.My little boy is enjoying his bedtime book from father Christmas. He is only 5 so at the moment we do lots of little recaps to remember where we are in the story. I think he is really a bit young to completely follow what's going on at the moment but it's certainly a book that he will grow into and I hope will become a treasured tradition (along with the second in the series which I will get for next Christmas so we can alternate).The illustrations are lovely, though some of the pages are very word heavy especially for the smaller ones so would have been nice to have had a few more smaller in text illustrations.5* book, fabulous alternative advent countdown. 100% recommend

A kind friend gifted us the first book a couple of years ago and we were pleased to see there's a second installment of Winston. It's great for all ages. My daughter reads it and does the activities herself and younger children would enjoy being read to and having a little help with activities.My reason for losing a star is due to it being damaged on arrival like a lot of amazon goods recently which is disappointing.

Myself and my children (girl 5 and boy 8) loved this during advent. A sweet story with lovely illustrations. We all loved the activities suggested, but will be getting organised to do most of them next year.

At first I wasn’t sure if this book could live up to the previous one but the more we read the more we became involved in the story and loved the journey! We are hoping for another book soon as we love finding out what Winston gets up to! These stories will be one of our favourite memories of Christmas for sure!

Beautiful drawings and wording! So fun to read a little bit a day, my kiddos (3 and 5) are so invested in the mouse’s adventure. Love the activities at the end of each chapter also. We haven’t done one yet but love having them there and maybe next year we will try to do them every day! So happy I randomly found this gem. I for see it being a great Christmas tradition and even gifting the book to future grandchildren one day!!

Book seems wonderful (hence the 5 stars), but this review is more about the state this book arrived in, not the book itself.The cover was all ripped. Disappointed that is was placed in a box in that condition (the box, nor the other item in the box, were damaged). If I return it, we miss out on using it as our advent calendar this year…

Tanto las ilustraciones como el texto son maravillosas. Disfrute muchisimo leyendo este libro durante el mes de Diciembre y admirando las hermosas ilustraciones de Alex. No te lo puedes perder.

Have loved both Winston books, a big hit with the whole family. The story, the illustrations and the daily activities make a perfect combination.

Un bien joli livre et une bien jolie histoire qui se lit comme un calendrier de l'avent et permet de faire grandir l'esprit de Noël jour après jour tout au long de décembre. Les petites activités à réaliser à chaque chapitre sont ludiques et créent du lien entre l'enfant, le parent et l'histoire.Un nouveau classique de Noël.