Book Tour: The Muttcracker
This post contains gifted items. All views are our own.
It’s less than a month to go until the Christmas season kicks off! One of our favourite things to do around Christmas time, is to snuggle up and read seasonal story books together. We have built quite a collection already over the past years, but there’s always room for more. So we were absolutely delighted to be invited to join the Blog Tour for The Muttcracker by Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie, a seasonal follow-up to their brilliant book Dogs Don’t Do Ballet.
It’s not necessary to have read the first book, but for those who don’t know it, here’s a quick recap: Biff is not like any of the other dogs. He dreams about being a ballerina. Everyone keeps telling him “dogs don’t do ballet”, but he perseveres with his dream and ends up dancing on stage. A great story about going against stereotypes, and doing what you want to do and being who you want to be.
In The Muttcracker, pawsome pup Biff is back again, living his best life as a ballerina. Every Saturday he goes to Ballet School with the little girl who is his owner and friend. This time they are super excited because their teacher has announced they are performing ‘The Nutcracker’ for their Christmas show and Biff drams of dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy. Who wouldn’t!
Alas, Biff and his friend get chosen to be Bonbons instead. At first Biff is very down in the dumps and hides away in his basket, but when he sees his friend upset and struggling to practice all on her own, he pulls himself together. They both practice together giving it the best they can:
“Sometimes you have to be a bonbon so you might as well be the best bonbon in the box!”
But then on the big night, the Sugar Plum Fairy falls ill and Biff is offered the part. Will he take the chance and make his dream come true, or will he stick with team bonbon and support his friend?
The Muttcracker is great story about friendship, and how to be positive in the face of disappointment. Also, we already have a lot of Christmas picture books about Santa and presents and celebrating the big day, so it’s nice to have bit of variety as The Muttcracker brings something a little different to our seasonal book collection whilst still delivering Christmas atmosphere.
For even more Christmas cheer, download your free Simon & Schuster The Muttcracker activity pack – with puzzles including a word search and spot the difference, rhyming fun and a picture of ballet-loving Biff to colour, there’s plenty to keep the kids busy.
And for an extra Christmas treat, here’s author Abi Elphinstone with a special reading of The Muttcracker on the Simon & Schuster UK YouTube channel:
The Muttcracker is available from all well stocked independent booksellers, and if they don’t have it they can probably order it for you.
Disclosure: We were gifted a free copy of The Muttcracker in return for an honest review. All opinions are our own. Many thanks to Bloomsbury for inviting us to be part of this book tour.
