How Winston Delivered Christmas – Book Review

Book Review
How Winston Delivered Christmas
By Alex T. Smith
Published September 17, 2019

Son's Review
(Age: 4)
That was fun! Did you notice it's all different stamps? Can we read it again, right away? Winston is soooo cute and adorable! Let's read it again before Christmas; let's read it in Advent.

On Winston himself:
He's just so cute and adorable. I'm bringing [paper] Winston because he wanted to read.
(T's paper Winston accompanied us through several events of the day.)

On what's important to know:
The crafts!!!

On the crafts:
We'll do each craft in there, okay Mom?
You know, I'd like to make the pet robin today because the pet robin isn't a Christmas thing one single bit.

On finding a letter to Santa on Christmas Eve:
I'd give it to Santa. I'd look for a red light in the sky. So I'd have a ladder, and I'd climb up onto a building, and if I saw a helicopter I'd grab onto it. I'd give the letter to Santa Claus.

Mom's Review
A tiny mouse in a world of humans preparing for Christmas, Winston just wants to find a warm place to sleep, but he finds a letter to Santa Claus on Christmas Eve and endeavors to deliver it himself. Winston braves a busy intersection, a cat, a rat, an airplane flight, and a blizzard before he ultimately collides with Santa's sleigh and delivers the letter. Divided into 25 chapters, How Winston Delivered Christmas is paced perfectly for bedtime each night of December through Christmas. You could read them during the day, but we found the chapters an ideal balance of excitement, wind-down, and length for our night routine.

Following each chapter is a Christmas or winter craft, many of which relate to the events of the previous chapter. Although it is waaaaaaay too early for anything Christmas in my book, we did make some of them. Partly because I wanted to be able to judge them and partly because T loves to do crafts and was eager to make almost everything all at once (we did not do what he wanted). One of the first crafts is to make your own Winston out of paper. It was easy, adorable, and used materials we had at home; many of the crafts are ones you could do spur-of-the moment, though above a 4YO's scissor skills. There are also Christmas songs in the back. Having How Winston Delivered Christmas is like one big Christmas gift: a story that lasts all month, little presents to make, and songs to sing.

If you count down to Christmas or like seasonal stories (or both), then I highly recommend How Winston Delivered Christmas. And that's from someone who doesn't like animals teaming up with Santa. Though Winston doesn't, he just delivers a letter.

Why we chose this book:
I normally avoid Christmas animal stories. This one sounded a bit different, with its purpose being a story and activities to enjoy all Advent. Advent is one of our favorite seasons, so I thought we'd give this book a try. A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.