Kid Christmas of the Claus Brothers Toy Shop
Nicky Claus lives with his three uncles, Louis, Hanz and Levi and has grown up helping with the family business- the Claus Brothers’ Toy Shop. In a mysterious room behind the shop, the three uncles work together to create the most wonderful, magical toys which every child wants. However, Nicky notices that there are children gazing in the shop windows who never come inside and one Christmas Eve, he decides to follow them. Eventually he comes to a big room, full of children, where Nicky meets a little girl called Lottie and learns why the children never enter the shop or have toys. Nicky vows that every single child in the city will be given a toy so they can feel happy.
With the help of his uncles, Nicky’s grand plan gets underway…
I can’t begin to tell you how much I love this story! Offering a new version of how Father Christmas came to be, it embodies what the true spirit of the festive season should be, showing the importance of kindness, generosity of spirit, friendship and love. Children will delight in spotting the links between this story what they know of Father Christmas’s traditional customs as Nicky’s dream of sharing the toys with everyone comes true. The teacher in me can see all manner of possibilities for using the story as a key text to support work in English as it offers so many possibilities for inspiring writing as well as being perfect for developing empathy and understanding. The story also lends itself to sparking so much art work… I feel the need to start planning, but above all, this is a glorious story to snuggle down with and share!
The illustrations are everything we have come to expect from David Litchfield. Glowing with warmth, there are so many details to notice and enjoy. The toy shop images have Dickensian Christmas feel to them, overflowing with traditional games and toys, the faces beaming with joy a clear contrast to those wistfully gazing at all the treasure out of their reach. I am no artist and so am constantly in awe of how David Litchfield uses light in his pictures- he manages to capture ‘snow light’, firefly light, moonlight…so many types of light giving different spreads different feelings.
The ending is just perfect with the illustrations once again adding to the tale. This is my new favourite Christmas story which I will be sharing at every opportunity!
Kid Christmas of the Claus Brothers Toy Shop
David Litchfield
Frances Lincoln ISBN: 978-0711262935