I love giving books as Christmas presents so sticking with my tradition I have already found a few which are going to be under the Christmas tree this year.

We are going through a bit of an Art Phase at the moment.  So I have two Art books that I discovered and love.  The first is the 15-Minute Watercolor Masterpieces.  This is a gem for anyone who wants to learn about watercolour paintings and is perfect for parents whose kids want to do proper watercolour pictures and you are just not sure where to start. The author has included a wide range of pictures and has broken down each one into manageable and achievable steps.  And along with the steps she has showen visually how you build the picture up.  I have been really impressed with this book and think it is really going to help my daughter with her watercolour paintings.

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Sticking with Art I also chose an Art History book and I went for Book of Famous Artists (Art Books).  I wanted something that covered the important artists and spoke about them in enough detail that the kids could hopefully be inspired to go and do further research.  I think this book ticks those boxes – the artists the included are spot on and the way they discuss both the artists and their works is at just the right level for my two. (I actually picked this copy up at a library sale – you can get brilliant books at their sales)

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Then Fictional Books, I am still searching for a few but I have three stunning ones.  The Explorer is one which I got for my son 100% based on how much he enjoyed Katherine Rubdell’s book Into the Jungle (Into the Jungle is a collection of backstories for a number of the characters from the Jungle Book) .  He really love reading Into the Jungle so I have totally just taken a chance and based on a few other good reviews thought we would try The Explorer.

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The second fictional book I got him is a First World War historical fiction story –The Silver Hand (Flashbacks). Now we have read a few flashback books and enjoyed all of them but I was still a bit nervous just because it is about the First World War and wanted to make sure there was nothing scary in it, so I read it.  And I must admit I love this book. It is a lovely story about a French girl and a German boy who become friends and help each other during the First World War.  And as always with the flashback books they manage to weave into the story lots of accurate details about the First World War – names, battles and the lifestyle of people during the war.  Really a good read if your kids are interested in the First World War.  I highly recommend this one.

Then one that has come highly recommended by a number of friends (apparently is it laugh out loud funny) is Grandpa’s Great Escape.

Now in all honesty we have a large collection of animal related books.  But I recently spotted this one – The Science of Animals: Inside their Secret World and after I paged through I just had to add it to our collection.  It really looks amazing, the photographs are incredible and I love the detailed explanations of how the different animal body parts work.  It is a luxurious book for any animal-obsessed child you wants the detail. (Once the kids have had time to go through it I will write a proper detailed review about this book but for now some quick photos – Really I can already say it is one of the best animal science books I have spotted).

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And for the History obsessed kids, the ones who want more detail than they normally get in children’s books we found this one – The Kings & Queens of Britain.  And Wow, really my daughter is going to be thrilled when she gets this for a Christmas present (I am already betting it is going to be her favourite present this year).  She has read and reread her Usborne Kings and Queens book (which is perfect for kids not as History obsessed as my daughter) but she really has moved onto needing more detailed resources and I think for her level of interest this one is at the correct level. (Again once we have had time to read it properly I will write a proper detailed review about this book).

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So those are 7 books which are going to be under our Christmas tree this year.

Admin Bit – All of these books were selected by me based on my kid’s interests.

I do include Affiliate links. If you follow an affiliate link and go on to purchase that product, I will be paid a very small commission, however your cost will remain the same. I only include affiliate links for products that we use and love (is this case are planning on using and I assume going to love).