Zoe's Christmas list by Mick and Chloe Inkpen

Zoe and Beans series. Macmillan Children's Books, 2012. ISBN 9780 330 54405 4.
(Age: 6+) Christmas. Zoe has a Christmas wish for a doll in a box, called Kyle Kurtz. She would really love this doll and so makes up her mind to go to the North Pole to put her Christmas wish list on the pole itself for Santa to receive. So they do. Along the way she and Beans meet a baby polar bear and it tags along with them. They eat their jam sandwiches, and have a few scrapes in getting out of the water and ice. When they finally arrive, it is almost Christmas Eve and so they wonder where Santa has been and what he has left them.
Beautiful illustrations hold the reader's attention as the two from the series survive in the hostile Northern Arctic. The book has a page which opens out making it even more interesting to younger readers. A definite read aloud, this will intrigue and delight younger listeners as they see the trio survive the adventures that befall them. The book will open up all sorts of discussions for families and classes, Christmas, wish lists, the North Pole, polar bears and how people survive in such a hostile place.
Fran Knight