A letter to Santa and inventive determination make the impossible possible in this vibrant and uniquely illustrated holiday offering.
It’s almost Christmas, and when the factory closes in the town of Snowville, people are out of work and feeling down. Eleven-year-old Eustace writes a letter to Santa to help the townsfolk and begins his own mission to have a holiday swim—in the middle of winter!—and he’ll need resourcefulness and resolve to make it happen. Eustace and the Christmas Swim, beautifully written in a mixture of rhyme and prose by Remo Perini, is a delightfully inventive story of how one boy’s selflessness affects all around him.
Written in an artful combination of rhyme and prose, Eustace and the Christmas Swim will delight young readers in poring over the incredibly detailed and captivating illustrations created by artist Danny O’Leary. With vibrant and elaborate scenes such as a toy workshop filled floor to ceiling with “doodads, inventions, books, gizmos, gadgets, and lots and lots of toys,” children will enjoy examining each skillfully crafted page to discover the objects throughout. Eustace and the Christmas Swim is a book that families and educators of young children can turn to again and again with renewed fascination.
A letter to Santa and inventive determination make the impossible possible in this vibrant and uniquely illustrated holiday offering.
It’s almost Christmas, and when the factory closes in the town of Snowville, people are out of work and feeling down. Eleven-year-old Eustace writes a letter to Santa to help the townsfolk and begins his own mission to have a holiday swim—in the middle of winter!—and he’ll need resourcefulness and resolve to make it happen. Eustace and the Christmas Swim, beautifully written in a mixture of rhyme and prose by Remo Perini, is a delightfully inventive story of how one boy’s selflessness affects all around him.
Written in an artful combination of rhyme and prose, Eustace and the Christmas Swim will delight young readers in poring over the incredibly detailed and captivating illustrations created by artist Danny O’Leary. With vibrant and elaborate scenes such as a toy workshop filled floor to ceiling with “doodads, inventions, books, gizmos, gadgets, and lots and lots of toys,” children will enjoy examining each skillfully crafted page to discover the objects throughout. Eustace and the Christmas Swim is a book that families and educators of young children can turn to again and again with renewed fascination.
Eustace and the Christmas Swim by Remo Perini and Martyn Thrussell (Illustrated by Danny O'Leary) is a children's picture book that tells the story of Eustace, an eleven-year-old child who lives in the town of Snowsville. The factory in town has closed down, so in December Eustace writes to Santa to ask him to restore happiness. At the same time, Eustace launches himself into a plan to thaw out the frozen lake so that he and the townsfolk can enjoy swimming in it once more.
From the design down to the fundamental plot, I have difficulty interpreting the messaging behind this children's story. After being told by his father that the frozen lake cannot be melted, the young Eustace is then left alone in the house with the family dog, Widget. The driving plot of Eustace warming up the frozen lake neither made sense, nor sat well with me. Given the artic surrounding conditions, I got the shivers watching all the scantily clad people diving into the lake! I also couldn't tell what the messaging was for younger readers. Even if it is dressed up as a fantastical children's book, the parallels with reality (made more so by the life-like drawings) could be seen to encourage children to play on ice or think it's safe to swim in ice-cold water.
Image compositions are made up of a combination of painted landscape backgrounds with separately drawn figures overlayed. While in places this works to good effect (for instance when Eustace is sat in the workshop, where it adds atmosphere and depth), for the majority of the time the overlay is at best strange and at worst, unnerving. Figure placement is hap-hazard, worsening in scenes featuring large crowds. I am quite sure I have seen a number of the townsfolk of Snowsville in fashion catalogues (particularly the woman who chooses to bathe in a bikini). Finally, for a children's book there is too much copy on each page to maintain interest.
Eustace and the Christmas Swim is a book that has been written by, I am sure, a very well-meaning author who aspired to have their name accredited with authorship. It is not the first book to do this, nor will it be the last. In terms of suitability for other readers though, it is not something I would readily recommend. The frozen pond storyline just gives me too many chills.
AEB Reviews