I’m very pleased to be on the Zak and Jen’s Astronomical Adventures – Tinsel Town book tour. Tinsel Town is written by Natalie Page and illustrated by Chris Rivers Nuttall. It’s a fantastic children’s book in the Zak and Jen Astronomical Adventures series. Which started with The Petal Planet.
As you know we are huge book lovers. I’m sharing that love for books with baby girl. She might not yet understand what they are about but at 9 months old she love’s to turn the pages when we read together.
Book Description
Best friends Zak and Jen love exploring space using their magic umbrellas. This time, they find a Christmas themed planet, but there is one thing missing, the inhabitants! Join the characters as they make some festive friends, and realise how important it is to appreciate every day. Tinsel Town is written for children over five years old, however younger children will also enjoy the rhythm of the story and its festive theme.
My Review
Before I start with commenting on the story I just want to say how amazing the illustrations are. Chris Rivers Nuttall has a fantastic talent. Zak and Jen feel a bit like A Nightmare before Christmas with black and white as the main colours, but this contrasts the colour all around them throughout the book. Love their spiky unkept hair – but then they are flying through space under umbrellas!
Natalie has written Tinsel Town beautifully with lots of rhyme and this makes it more relevent this week as it’s World Rhyme Week. So a brilliant week to release this wonderful little story. I’m a huge Christmas fan and reading this book to my baby girl has got me into the Christmas spirit. I don’t want to spoil the story as that’s not what my reviews are about but you are in for a little treat!
Interview with Natalie
Natalie’s Top 5 Christmas Traditions
I was delighted that Rachel agreed to be part of the Tinsel Town Blog Tour and as part of the experience, I agreed to share my top 5 Christmas traditions with everyone!
I will say upfront that these traditions do not include the most important part of the holiday season, which is spending time with friends and family. However, they are the little extra’s that either take me back to my childhood, or are allowing me to create some new Christmas memories with my own family.
So, here we go!
I cannot remember a time when I did not get an advent calendar at Christmas. So much so, that my mum still insists on buying my sister and I one every year (even though we are in our 30’s) which I think is awesome! I have grown up with both the chocolate and the picture kind of advent calendar, but last year, I decided to do something different for my little girl. I bought this beautiful handmade advent calendar with pockets for each day from a lady on notonthehighstreet.com. I filled each of the pockets with a small toy and each day, when my daughter came home from nursery, she was allowed to open that day’s pocket and have the toy.
There seem to be all kinds of things that you can do for small children during advent if you don’t want to indulge in the daily chocolate option. One friend of mine last year made an advent calendar and filled each of the pockets with activities and things to do, so each day her son received a different ‘adventure’ which I think is a really nice idea!
Stockings
Our family has always had stockings. I remember when I was really young waking up ridiculously early and opening mine with my sister only to go back to sleep afterwards (something we weren’t supposed to do). As the years went by, my sister and I used to go out with friends on Christmas Eve for a drink or two and come home in the early hours of Christmas morning (2am) to find our filled stockings waiting for us on our beds. In those days we would open the stockings together before we went to bed, which is probably a good thing seeing as back then we struggled to get up much before 10am!
Nowadays, as a parent myself, I have been determined to continue to the stocking tradition, not only for my husband, but also for my daughter. I love finding lots of little, interesting gifts to fill them with and it is usually the first thing we open together as a family on Christmas day.
Christmas Eve Mass
I don’t consider myself a very religious person, but I was brought up in a Catholic family and one of our family traditions was to attend Mass at the local church on Christmas Eve. It was always rammed with families, but there was such a lovely warm and happy feeling that it made the somewhat cramped conditions all worthwhile. The Christmas Eve Mass was always very much geared towards children and it was nice to experience the community spirit with everyone singing Christmas carols together. Sadly, my family and I all live quite far apart now so the Christmas Eve Mass tradition has dropped in the last couple of years, but it is certainly one that I hope to reinstate.
Christmas Eve Drinks
If you read the paragraph above about stockings you will know that I have been known to enjoy a Christmas Eve drink or two. However, these days that tradition has taken on a somewhat different focus. If you were to come to our home on Christmas Eve this year, you will either be treated to a glass of traditional mulled wine or a slightly alcoholic hot chocolate (non-alcoholic for younger ones, obviously!) This is something that we do once my daughter has finally gone to bed, we have made sure all the presents are wrapped and everything is prepped for Christmas lunch the following day. In truth, I often look forward to that point on Christmas Eve when I can sit down and relax in front of the TV, drink in hand, and watch something truly Christmassy.
Real Christmas Trees
Finally, we have to get on to the subject of Christmas trees, and for me, it has to be a real one. We live near this wonderful estate which grows trees every year in time for Christmas, and you just can’t beat it. The smell of the fir alone is incredible!
So that’s my top 5 Christmas traditions, perhaps they are not wildly different from most people’s but I know that I couldn’t have Christmas without them. Merry Christmas!
Thanks Natalie for sharing with us your Christmas Traditions.
Why not pop over and visit the other blogs on the Tinsel Town Blog Tour. They have lots of more exclusive content!
You can find keep up to date with Zak and Jen’s Adventures on Twitter and Facebook
*I was given Zak and Jen’s Astronomical Adventures -Tinsel Town in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains an affiliate link.
my 3 year old nephew
It would be great for my two sons 🙂
For my nephew Jack
I’d keep it for my son – he’ll be old enough to appreciate it by next Christmas 😀
Id give this book to my nephew as my son is to young for books like this… 🙂
my niece would enjoy reading this x
Our youngest would absolutely love it so it would be for her.
I would share it between my nieces when they visit on Sunday afternoons.
my kids
For my nephew.
to my daughter
I would love to win this for our daughter.
Thank you for running such a generous giveaway!
I really enjoy your blogs. Keep up the great work.
My niece
i would give it to my niece Aimee im sure she would enjoy reading it
My nephew would love it!
I would give it to my daughter 🙂
My brother, hes only three but would enjoy it anyway!
my kids
id give it to my nephew drake 🙂
To my nephew who loves his books xx
My daughter who loves books
I would give it to my son
My daughter
My mum as she likes to read and needs to relax more!
Perfect for my Nephew
id give this to my nephew
i’d give the prize to my niece.
My son would love this
I’d give it to my boy 🙂
I would give it to my friend for her children 🙂
My best friends girl
My nephew would love this book! Thanks for the chance.
MY SIX YEAR OLD
Hello!
Firstly, thank you for doing this, it looks like a lovely book. I would give it to my 5 year old daughter.
Thanks again.
My son would love this
I would give it to my 6 year old granddaughter
I’d gift it to my little cousin 🙂
I would keep it for when grandson came to visit, he loves a little read together
Looks nice for a friends child
i would give this book to my daughter, Leah
Would give this book, to my little Nephew
I will save it for when my little one is old enough
My daughter
I would give it to my son and would have fun reading it with him.
My grandsons
My son would love this book.
My eldest son
I would give it to my niece.
My daughter would love this!
I think my son, Aidan, would love this!
My friend’s son.
My youngest grandson Harley who loves snuggling up with a book
my neice would love this
i would give it to my grandaughter x
I would read this to my sons
My gorgeous granddaughter Shaylen
my daughter
My cousins
I’d gift it to my nephew!
Niece.
My niece
my sons x
I would give it to my godson, he would love it 🙂
If I won I would give it to my son x
I would give this book to my brother and his wife for their new baby
my little niece Mia
my little niece Mia
My little girl would love this book
My little boy. The illustrations are fab 🙂
my daughter would love this prize
My children would love this!
my son xx
my little man
Looks great! My daughter’s would enjoy this
My daughter
I’d love it for my nephew.
Id love to give to my nephew
My daughter would love this.
I would give it to my nephew
daisy
I would give it to my 3 little ones, as I think they would love it, I love the illustrations too.
I would give it to my eldest, he loves reading
My niece would love this x
My nephew
This looks like a wonderful book, really beautifully illustrated. I think my little boy would absolutely love it. x
My twin boy’s would love this book, fantastical different characters from the norm, with the most stunning illustrations. What a fantastic opportunity to win this book.
This looks perfect for my youngest daughter
I would give the book to my daughter.
My niece would love it
My daughter would love this
My grandson would love this.
I’d have to give it to my little boy – but then his sister would probably nick it!
My nieces
My nephew would adore this.
To my book loving son 🙂
for my daughter x
My son would like reading this book
I would give this to my son and daughter for Christmas.
my nephew
My younger grandson would love this.
My nephew would love this!
I’d give it to my niece, thanks.x
I’d love this for my twin grand-children
my son
i think both my boys would enjoy this x