Christmas is a magical time of year with sleigh bells ringing, Christmas markets with their mulled wine, mince pies and gifts, all the lights and decorations and (fingers crossed), presents and snow on Christmas Day! And William is desperate for snow for Christmas in William’s Winter Wish by Gillians Shields and Rosie Reeve.
William is a young mouse that just loves visiting his Grandpa. He loves the toys that he gets to play with there, he loves the cuckoo clock and the chocolate biscuits but, apart from Grandpa, the thing that he loved the most was Grandpa’s snow globe. He loved to shake it and watch the magical tiny sparkling snowflakes.
On a visit to Grandpa’s house in the cold of winter, he looked out of the window at the cold landscape and wished that it would snow. He asked his grandpa if it snowed when he was little which leads Grandpa to getting out his old photo albums with pictures of all the snowy fun he had when he was a child – having snowball fights, building a snowmouse and skating across the frozen pond. They enjoyed sitting together looking and discussing the old photos which just made William’s desire for snow all the greater. Grandpa hands William his beloved snow globe and tells him that if he wants it to snow he should shake the globe and make a wish, which he does. He wished as hard as he possibly could.
Unfortunately, if didn’t snow that day or the next so William practiced sledging down the stairs on a rug, skated on the tiled kitchen floor and even found some feathery snowflakes to play with (much to his mother’s frustration). He even tried to use some old cardboard boxes to build a snowmouse. With his frustration growing he rushes back to Grandpa’s house determined to make it snow by wishing harder but accidentally breaks the magical snow globe. Grandpa knows it was an accident and tries to reassure William, but he can see that he is very upset.
William is not happy that his grandpa is upset and sets about to make amends.
Overall, William’s Winter Wish is a heart-warming tale of a mouse that wants snow for Christmas. But it is also a tale that explores the notion of honesty and owning up when you do something wrong and taking responsibility for it. A great story of family love, consideration for others and magical winter wishes.
The story, written by Gillian Shields, is one that children will be able to relate to, wanting snow at Christmas and all the games and fun that go with it and owning up to accidents and spending time with family. It is easy to read with some beautiful illustrations.
The illustrations by Rosie Reeve are excellent, bright and warm and help young readers to easily visualise what is happening within the text of the story, making it come alive.
William’s Winter Wish is a wonderful winter tale that is perfect for winter and Christmas reading. It is more than just wishing for something and has a fantastic moral to the story and a very happy ending for William and his Grandpa. An excellent Christmas-themed book for bedtime reading this winter and to get readers into the Christmas spirit.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £6.99 (Paperback)
Available to buy from Amazon here.
