I do love this festive time of year. I loved being in the nativity play at school. For a few years I was an angel. I can’t wait until it’s my girls time to be in the school plays. This weekend we started reading The Christmas Play Rehearsal by Sue Wickstead as one of our Christmas books.
Book Description
It is Christmas time, and the school has been getting ready to perform their Nativity play. With lines learnt and songs to be sung, it is time for the dress rehearsal. The teacher knows there might be a few problems to sort out, but at least they will know what to improve on or change along the way.
What We Thought
I love the whole “school play scene” the dressing up, learning lines, dress rehearsals, setting up the props and stage. This book has it all covered. It gives you an insight to the behind the scenes of the school nativity play. What goes on and of course goes wrong!
I believe the book is aimed at 3-8 year olds, which is of course the right age for primary school plays. I think teachers would find this book very helpful! It’s beautifully written and I adore the illustrations, so true to form. It will give you a giggle for sure.
Author Bio
Sue Wickstead
I am a teacher and an author and have currently written six children’s picture books with a bus theme.
For over 20 years, alongside my teaching career, I worked with a Children’s Charity, The Bewbush Playbus Association, which led me to write a photographic history book about it.
I soon found that many children had never been on a bus before, let alone a ‘Playbus’ and they wanted to know more. I decided to write a fictional tale about the bus, his number plate JJK261 gave him his name.
‘Jay-Jay the Supersonic Bus,’ came out in print in 2014. It is the story behind the original bus and is his journey from a scrap-yard to being changed into a playbus for children to play in. From Fact to fiction the bus journey continued.
This story has now been followed by five more picture books.
I also undertake events and author bookings and love to share the story. There are also a few more stories in the writing process, with links to real events and buses.
The story has been read in many schools in the south-East of England, where I teach as a cover teacher, it is always well received and certainly different.
Blog Tour
You can check out the other bloggers on The Christmas Play Rehearsal tour here:
Available From
Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you have enjoyed this review.
You can check out my other book posts here.
*I received a copy of The Christmas Play Rehearsal in exchange for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Happy memories of yesteryear
I recently heard my old school no longer puts on the Nativity Play. Oh dear, how sad.
No matter how tricky it is indeed important to keep this part of Christmas going.
The children always loved it in the end and what a great memory.
This looks great, love the illustrations. I was always a shepherd, at my daughter school they have great costumes, we used to dress up in a bedsheet and a tea towel.
It was always the shepherds tea towel head dresses that fell off in our play
Sounds a little beauty will keep an eye out for it
Thank you for your review.
I was never an angel but was once in a fairy dance but no wand.
Lovely photos too and I hope your girls get to have a role in their play