A Porcupine in a Pine Tree
Scholastic Canada
Age 3-5, 5-8
32 pages
by Helaine Becker, illustrated by Werner Zimmermann
Synopsis from Scholastic Canada:
Celebrate Christmas Canadian-style with this hilarious adaptation of The Twelve Days of Christmas. You’ll find squirrels curling, puffins piping, hockey players a-leaping and more. Helaine Becker and Werner Zimmermann turn the Christmas carol on its head, with a totally Canadian cast of characters wildly romping through the pages. A new holiday classic is born!
You’re probably familiar with the song, even reading the first few words has me singing, but how about reading or singing it with a Canadian twist. That’s what you’ll find when you read A Porcupine in a Pine Tree. You’ll find the likes of beavers, puffins, Mounties and even the Stanley Cup worked into this festive counting story.
As the porcupine sits atop of the Charlie Brown Christmas like pine tree, the pages get fuller and busier as the song continues. Helaine does a great job working the Canadian symbols into the story without making it a mouthful to read; the flow is beautiful. My 8-year old chimed right in, singing the whole story to everyone. The second time we read A Porcupine in a Pine Tree, my daughter had assigned everyone parts to read; it was a great way to read the story. At the end the porcupine steps down from his perch in the pine tree to unveil a surprise for everyone.
As the story repeats elements on each page, kids will be able to read along easily. It’s a fun, festive way to reinforce the numbers 1 to twelve also, by counting up in the song. Kids can also try counting the actual elements in the story though near the end the page gets a little crowded and some things may be hard to find but that didn’t stop my 3, especially my 4-year old. Everyone enjoyed reading A Porcupine in a Pine Tree and put us all in a Christmasy frame of mind right before bed.
You can add Porcupine in a Pine Tree to your personal library by visiting your local book store or visiting Scholastic Canada. Visit our Kid’s Books section for other great book recommendations. What are you reading with your kids?
I have to thank Nikole at Scholastic Canada for my review copy.