The class book review: The Snowman, Jingle Spells and Bah Humbug!

In our second Christmas special, there are new twists on two old favourites and a spooky Christmas for one witch
16th December 2018, 11:31am

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The class book review: The Snowman, Jingle Spells and Bah Humbug!

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The Snowman

Author: Michael Morpurgo
Publisher: Puffin
Details: 160pp, £12.99
ISBN: 9780241352410

It’s Christmas day, you’re sat around in the living room with your family, feeling stuffed after a wonderful dinner. The Snowman is on TV. This has been a familiar scene with many families over the last 30 years.

That magical moment has been reimagined and brought to life by the incredibly talented Michael Morpurgo.

The story begins on a small farm a few days before Christmas, where James’ grandma is reading him her favourite story, The Snowman. James cannot contain his excitement for Christmas and spends the night wishing to see snow outside his window. James is a lonely young boy, who believes his stammer has prevented him from making friends.

One night, as James sleeps in his bed, the snow begins to fall. When James awakes and sees the blanket of snow from his window, he grabs his dog Bertie and makes his way to the fields. It’s here where the real Christmas magic begins. In the moonlit snow, James builds a snowman, a magnificent snowman. He spends all of Christmas Eve perfecting his snowman; it has coal eyes, an orange nose, a green hat and scarf and five Brussels sprout buttons on his jacket…

That night, James cannot sleep, all he can think about is his snowman. While he lays in his bed waiting for the morning to come, something magical happens outside...

As a huge fan of Michael Morpurgo and The Snowman by Raymond Briggs, this story was everything I wanted a more. Morpurgo has captured the spirit of Christmas and the breath-taking beauty of snow. This book would make an excellent Christmas Eve read for young and old. I have really enjoyed sharing this book with my class and discussing the themes and characters within the story.  A story so familiar with so many children has finally been told in words.

Nicole McCracken is a Year 5 teacher at Our Lady of Muswell Primary, London

Pupil reviews: ‘As good as the movie”

The bit that I liked the most is when James had spent all day building his snowman but had nobody to see it. But when he turned around, all his family were there and really liked it. They gave him so many compliments, which made him very happy!

Alexander, Year 5

I liked the part when all the snowmen were in the sky. My favourite character is The Snowman because he is nice and made out of snow, which is my favourite thing about winter!

Sophie, Year 5

In the book there is a boy called James. He has a stutter and stammer, he has no friends because he doesn’t speak at school. But the Snowman becomes his friend, which is why he is our favourite character, because when he comes to life, he is kind to James.

Alex, Josh and Jayden, Year 5

My favourite part is when James and The Snowman are flying. This book is so good! In my opinion, it is as good as the movie, and even though it doesn’t have many pictures, I can imagine it all!

Liam, Year 5

My favourite part is when they fly because he is the only boy flying amongst snowmen. Even though he sometimes feels alone, now he feels special. When with the snowman, James no longer feels alone.

Erin and Anaiah, Year 5

My favourite part of the story was when James couldn’t get to sleep because he was too excited and couldn’t wait until Christmas morning. He really wanted a green mountain bike and for it to snow. I like this part because I can never get to sleep on Christmas as I am too excited!

Evie, Year 5

I like The Snowman because he is joyful and interested in what James has to say. He reminds me of my granddad, who is always cheerful and jolly.

Ruben, Year 5

We like The Snowman because we think it is so cool that he can actually fly!

Lewis, Gustavo and Sofia, Year 5


Jingle Spells

Author: James Brown
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s UK
Details: 32 pages, £6.99
ISBN: 9781471170584

As an early years teacher, I often use books as a starting point for conversations and discussions, especially when the story has interesting illustrations. Jingle Spells proved to be a great book to use to think about empathy and not judging people, with a great Christmas theme included.

Jingle Spells is so beautifully illustrated, and the story is so original. I knew the children in my Reception class were going to enjoy it. As soon as I showed them the book, the children got very excited about the Christmas tree on the front cover. Throughout the story, they were captivated by the beautiful and clever illustrations and loved being able to sing along with the words of the story. We have been learning Jingle Bells as part of our nativity performance and the children got excited when they recognised the page turn to the song. Generally, my class responds well to books that they can join in with, especially when there is a song involved.

They also found the book very humorous and laughed throughout the story.

Jingle Spells

Throughout the story, the children listened intently and commented a lot on how the main character, Trixie the Witch, must be feeling and how unfairly the elves were treating her.

I wouldn’t have picked this book to use as a starting point for a discussion on empathy or talking about feelings but the illustrations and the language used in the book made it so clear how poor Trixie was being treated that the children made their own conclusions. They also loved the illustrations, particularly the Halloween-decorated Christmas tree right at the end.

They had a lot of thoughts on this and didn’t think it was right that Halloween things were on a Christmas tree. I would definitely use this book again as a circle time focus or as a calm-down story, seeing as the children loved it so much and the level of focus on the characters’ feelings showed how well the children listened and engaged with the story.

Francesca Peckham is an early years teacher at Netley Marsh CE Infant School, Hampshire

Pupil reviews: “I liked the Christmas Tree”

I loved it because of the witches and elves. The witch and the cat look very happy.

Albert, aged 4

I liked the big sneeze!

Charlie, aged 5

I liked the big sneeze too. All of the story was good.

Tristan, aged 4

I liked the cat on the Christmas tree and I liked all of it.

Robyn, aged 4

It was OK, I like the elves and Santa. I didn’t like the webs on the tree.

Toby, aged 4

It was rubbish because a bat was on the Christmas tree. It’s Christmas, not Halloween.

Jack, aged 4

It’s a good story. I like Santa’s magic.

Jocelyn, aged 5

I liked the Christmas tree.

Harper, aged 4

I liked all of it. I liked the tree.

Shriya, aged 5

[When Trixie was on the naughty list for being a witch] That’s not very nice, she shouldn’t be on the naughty list. Santa should come and see her anyway.

Jessica, aged 4

Why is there Halloween things on the Christmas tree? They shouldn’t be there.

Billy, aged 4

See, she is a good witch. Her potion made Santa better. Now he can go and deliver presents.

Jed, aged 5


Bah! Humbug!

Author: Michael Rosen
Illustrator: Tony Ross
Publisher: Scholastic
Details: £8.99, 192pp
ISBN: 9781407178180

What a brilliant way to introduce A Christmas Carol to children! Michael Rosen’s inspired idea of interweaving the classic story (written as a play script) with his own original modern story works wonderfully.

I was able to share this text across key stage 2: although containing appropriately challenging vocabulary, it is not too dense, and therefore not off-putting for more reluctant readers. Tony Ross’ delightful illustrations (whose style is well-recognised by the children) are interspersed throughout. This was balanced with longer chapters (there are only five in the book), which encouraged the children’s reading stamina - especially as many did not want to put it down until they’d finished a chapter. 

It would be a great text to study in more detail with KS2, particularly looking at features of narrative versus play scripts, or evaluating why Rosen has chosen to place the parts of A Christmas Carol where he did amongst his story.

Overall, it’s a brilliant book for both avid and reluctant readers and has become a classroom favourite around this festive season.

Sophie Bartlett is a Year 5/6 teacher at Great Rollright C of E Primary School, Oxfordshire

Pupil reviews: ‘Sad and joyful at the same time’

Bah Humbug! Class book review

In Bah! Humbug!, a boy called Harry, who is Scrooge, is in a school play based upon A Christmas Carol. Scrooge says ‘bah! humbug!’ every time someone says Merry Christmas to him. Well that will not happen for long because he gets visited by three ghosts: the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas future. In the end, he cannot bear any more so he starts to believe in Christmas. Meanwhile, there is another story going on about Harry and his family (his sister Eva, his mum Lisa and his dad Ray).

My favourite part was when Scrooge became happy and made it so everyone else was happy as well and made Tiny Tim not die. My favourite character was Scrooge because he is grumpy and happy. Also I like Tiny Tim because he is small and fun. I would recommend this book for people who like a happy ending but it is also a sad book because it is quite sad and joyful at the same time.

Lucy, Year 6

Harry plays the lead role of Scrooge from A Christmas Carol. His mum, dad and sister go to watch the play. His Dad leaves for work. Does Dad make it back in time? It’s Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with a twist. I’d recommend it to children aged 8 and above.

Isabelle, Year 4

I really enjoyed it because I got to read two stories at once. My favourite bits were the end, which was really happy, and every time Scrooge gets annoyed at Bob because it is always very dramatic. I also loved the bit when the Spirits of Christmas visit Scrooge. I recommend this book to people who like the story of A Christmas Carol and like joining links between stories. The best age group for this book would be Year 5 and Year 6.

Matilda, Year 5

My favourite character is Eva because she helped Harry practise for the play and she is always laughing at Harry when he is saying funny things throughout the play. When Eva laughs at Harry, it helps him build up his confidence because when people laugh, he knows he is doing a good job. Altogether I think it’s is a really good book because it tells two stories at once. This makes it a bit different to other books but it is just as good.

William, Year 6

I really liked this book. It was a two-in-one book about a school play and the character Scrooge where he hates Christmas and always says ‘bah! humbug!’. My favourite part of the book is Harry’s school play because his dad is only interested in money and leaves Harry’s school play for work. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Scrooge or Christmas!

Rosie, Year 6


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If you or your class would like to write a review, please contact kate.parker@tes.com

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