Part One
– Incidental Christmases in Children’s Books
What's
the title of the book and who's the author?
1. Some pictures of Father
Christmas in our world make him look only funny and jolly. But now the children
actually stood looking at him, they didn’t find it quite like that.
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, C S Lewis
2. "You know the
reason Mother proposed not having any presents this Christmas was because it is
going to be a hard winter for everyone; and she thinks we ought not to spend
money for pleasure, when our men are suffering so in the army.”
Meg in Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
3. Written in narrow, loopy
writing he had never seen before were the following words:
Your father left this in my possession before
he died. It is time it was returned to you.
Use it well.
A Very Merry Christmas to you
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J K Rowling
4. Perhaps because they had
been working so hard, Christmas day seemed the loveliest they had ever known.
Nothing was very different from other Christmases, but somehow it seemed a
particularly gay day. Their stockings bulged when they awoke, and besides all
the usual things in them, there were large white sugar pigs with pink noses and
wool tails.
Ballet Shoes, Noel Streatfeild
5. As the door opened, one
of the elder ones that carried the lantern was just saying, “Now then, one,
two, three!” and forthwith their shrill little voices uprose on the air,
singing one of the old-time carols that their forefathers composed in fields
that were fallow and held by frost…
Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
6. Those who stay awake
long enough are rewarded by a momentary sound that never fails to draw a sharp
intake of breath – the delicate tapping of hoofs descending on roof tiles.… But
sure enough, there he is, the reindeer with no name: enormous, blind as a bat,
sniffing under the TV aerial with infinite animal patience.
‘The nameless holiday’, Tales from Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan
Part Two – Children’s Books with a Christmassy title or setting
1. “Maybe Christmas”, he thought, “doesn't come from a
store.”
“Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!”
When the Grinch stole
Christmas, Dr Seuss
2. It came right down the
chimney and into the fireplace with a thump. “It’s Father Christmas!” cried one
of the aunts. “No, dear,” said the other aunt, “Father Christmas does not have
a tail.”
Mog’s Christmas, Judith Kerr
3. “If the fir tree is to
be dressed as beautifully as possible, then it can’t be for the purpose of
hiding it. The idea must be to placate the danger in some way.’ I’m beginning
to understand.”
Moominpappa in ‘The Fir
Tree’Tales from Moominvalley, Tove
Jansson
4. “Can you tell me why
Christmas trees are never allowed any fun? Never allowed to join in and dance?
… Poor, poor little Christmas trees.”
Pippi in Pippi Celebrates Christmas (Pippi),
Astrid Lindgren
5.
Blooming chimneys. Blooming soot. Blooming cats, Blooming cookers.
Father Christmas in Father Christmas, Raymond Briggs
6.
But it
was not Father Christmas. As the bells rang loud and clear, some lights
appeared over the wall of the Roman Camp. Loping towards them, seeming hardly
to brush the snow with their paws, came a magnificent team of harnessed lions
drawing a long sledge driven by a lady whose eyes shone like sparks of fire.
The Box of Delights, John Masefield
7. “Hark at Ann,” said
Benny. “Come on, Ann, stop dancing about and get to work. Look you can hang
some of this silver tinfoil in strips all over the tree… and after that you can
put bits of cotton wool on it here and there so it looks as if snow has fallen
on the branches.”
“Don’t put the cotton wool
on till I’ve clipped on the candles,” said Susan, busy sorting out the clips.
“You mustn’t put the cotton wool near the candles, in case it catches fire.”
The Christmas Book, Enid Blyton
 |
It stepped cautiously nearer the fir tree,
followed by all the relations and friends
with devoutly quivering whiskers |
A very happy Christmas!
Labels: Christmas quiz
