Book: A Bite Before Christmas
Author: Nandita da Cunha
Illustrator: Swarnavo Datta
Publisher: Karadi Tales
Type: Paperback
Length: 28 pages
Age Group: 4-7 years (reviewer suggests younger children will enjoy this book as well)
In the book, Mom makes twelve jumbo marzipans way ahead of Christmas. She instructs everyone that the box is not to be opened until Christmas eve. But the little girl Kyra and grandfather conspire together and play with the words to get to the marzipans!! What happens when everyone opens the box on Christmas is a surprise you need to unfold by getting the book.
The book has rhyming sentences giving it a poem like feeling. We loved that the illustrations had Indian characters. The skin tone and Indian features makes it more endearing.
In our own life, I am the one who is strict around sweets and my 5 year old daughter N’s grandpa loves pampering her with all the sweets she would demand. He would say, “Don’t you get scared of your mom. I will get you what you want”. And then they conspire what sweet treat they would relish every weekend. Sunday being their favourite day as both of them are free.
The naughtiness and bond between Kyra and grandpa in the story makes it special to us because of the connection it holds in our real life.
The illustrations on the bottom can be used to teach counting or shapes. N and I played the “guess missing items” game. For every page, we would see what “changed” (nah, I am not revealing the details here) and then count or subtract or add or whatever we wanted to do. It was additional fun. I am a smart mom, no?
At one point, the story gives four options to put the blame on but the 5 year old smarty pants decided on the fifth element – the ANTS. She noticed that the earlier illustrations had ants and insists that ants are the ones to blame rather than the suggested four. What were the four things, you ask? No, go get the book and find it out yourself.
I am well above 30 and yet never got a chance to be a part of any Christmas celebration. I felt the details about the Christmas sweets were a bit rushed at the end. The illustrations had so many options of Christmas sweets but I was lost as to what they were. Am I being too greedy? lol.
Being two super foodies, we both wanted more details about them. This added to my tasks wherein I had to search the internet to answer “Mumma, what is X?” Also, N has asked me to make Marzipans for this Christmas, any help with the recipe here?
All in all, this book is a perfect Christmas treat and celebrates the spirit of the festival and family bonds beautifully.
If you enjoyed this review and wish to enjoy this treat (and some other Christmas ones) with your loved ones, you should get this book from Amazon (kbc affiliate link),
CLICK & BUY NOW!ADDED BY ASHA: We have reviewed most of Nandita’s books on the site. You can read the reviews of The Miracle on Sunderbaag Street and The Miracle on Kachhua Beach here.
Other books by the author are Just like Papa (read review here) and The Magic in My Fingers, chapter book Pedru and the Big Boom (for 10 years+), My Trip To La-La Land (8-12 years) , Who Clicked That Pic? is for 9 years+ and has been illustrated by Priya Kuriyan.
Disclaimer: Anubhuti and her daughter N (currently 5 years old) are a part of the #kbcReviewerSquad and received this book as a review copy from the publisher via kbc.
