Reviews Young Readers Reviews #77 Holiday/History ,
Newfoundland’s Twelve Days of Christmas
Chris Moose loves everything about Christmas, especially mummering, the Newfoundland yuletide tradition of dressing up in costume and going door to door to visit friends and neighbours and have them try to guess who you are. But try as he might, Chris never seems to be able to disguise himself well enough to stump his friends. This year he has been planning his costume all year long. Alas, first two giggling geese, then three grey hares followed by a whole menagerie of other animal friends see through his spruce tree disguise. Chris grows increasingly disappointed with each attempt…until the twelfth day of Christmas when he inadvertently finds a way to make his Christmas mummering wish come true.
This version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” offers a fun new take on the holiday favourite while introducing children to mummering. The bright, cheerful illustrations help create a sense of playfulness and whimsy, and the story begs to be read aloud with its litany of fiddling, falling, prancing and squelching critters who each find some new item to add to Chris’s costume. While youngsters will love the familiarity of the format, they will equally enjoy the new element that Chris Moose brings to this timeless classic.
A Moose Goes a-Mummering
Written by Lisa Dalrymple, Illustrated by David Sturge
$12.95, paperback, 32 pp.
Tuckamore Books, October 2014
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