*AD – the item in this review was gifted to our household for this post. All opinions, as always, are our own.
When it comes to books, Kai enjoys reading one of two types; Minecraft or Horrible Histories. You can find both of these books littered around his bedroom and on his special shelf of books in our living room. Kai’s best friend George is a big history lover, so he naturally is always into learning more and discovering whatever he can about history. So, he was quite pumped when he got his hands on the Horrible Histories Horrible Christmas Almanac.
For those who haven’t heard of them before, the Horrible Histories series is a long set of books that were originally written to try and make history fun. This is through focusing on some of the more weird, gruesome or slightly horrible aspects of history. Over the years, they have covered almost all of the time periods of humanity, but this Christmas book is a perfect access point, even if you have not heard of Horrible Histories before, as it’s focused on a time period throughout the ages, that we all know at least a bit about and can relate too.
There is a page dedicated to the worst things that have happened on Christmas – from bombs to buildings exploding, a page on Christmas related crimes, and Christmas facts that just have a very not-so-Christmas feel to them as they showcase less of the cheer and more of the strange and dreadful parts of the holidays. And I think that’s what makes these books great for tweens and tweens, especially boys, as they do love to dive into the gross and gruesome aspects of everything.
At the same time, they are learning a bit of history from these books, and having the strange and weirdness to them does help them stick in their mind. Since Kai has got this book, he has stopped to tell me about rotten foods that were made for Christmas and ask me if I knew about a few strange Christmas traditions. He has even memorised some of the Christmas jokes within the book to tell to his friend George.
The Horrible Histories Horrible Christmas Almanac is just that, an almanac, so you do not need to read it from cover to cover, and instead can dip in and out to learn different bits of history and enjoy a bit of what the book is teaching you about. The bits that you can read are bite-sized, and perfect for short sessions of reading, maybe while a game is loading or while eating dessert before going to bed. It’s a light book and makes for a good Christmas gift as well.
This post is apart of our Blogmas series, with each and every post being about Christmas or Winter.
My twin grandsons would just love this, learning and laughing at the same time.
It is good to have learning tools!
Horrible Histories is great isn’t it. We had some books from years ago that my children now love to read!
We have a massive collection of them!
my son would like this book
It is a really good book!
Looks a fab book
It is perfect for Christmas time too!
What fun – the boys will love – MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all
Merry Christmas to you too!
Omg I haven’t heard the word almanac in years! Wow this is truly something special.
It is such a fun book!
Super cute. I’m all about any type of book that holds their attention and gets kids reading more.
We really are too!
My grandson would love this
It is such a good book!
As a teacher I see children daily and reading is just something they do not like to do anymore. I get so excited when I see a student with a book. Whatever gets them reading! 🙂
Yeah, it is hard to get kids interested in reading now-a-days.
The perfect distraction from their screens for a while!
my granddaughter would love this!
My daughter would love this
My son would love this book!
My son would love this!
This would be great for my nephew x
My daughter would love to read this
My son would love this. Thank you for the chance to win 🥰
my nephew loves horrible histories
My grandchildren and I love the books and the programme so would love to share this with them
I’m not sure who would love this more… My kids or me.
I love a bit of Horrible Historieeeeeeeees I can quite easily sit and watch it for hours after they’ve gone to bed.
I really enjoy them too! We are going to their Drive Ins play this week.
my grandson would enjoy this
Great giveaway would love to win for my daughter sheriah
fab! my daughter would love this
Horrible histories are very educational without kids knowing
Great prize!
This would be great to win for my nephew who loves Horrible Histories
my kids would love this 🙂
This would be great to win for my son.
Our kids love Horrible Histories so this would be a great extra surprise for them at Christmas.
Great prize, count me in please.