Today, we have three advent calendars from Penguin Random House for review. These are all book-style advent calendars and each offers a gift for each day.
Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House, has brought Richard Scarry’s Busy World into this advent calendar. The Richard Scarry advent calendar depicts a very Scarry vignette, showing Lowly Worm and most of the creatures of the Busy World in a winter wonderland. Instead of windows, each of the 25 days is an ornament that gets pulled out of the backdrop. The advent calendar includes a pouch of gold cords for hanging the ornaments.
The Richard Scarry advent calendar is a large, flat book that can be brought with you if you travel over the holidays. The ornaments can be placed back into the advent calendar to use again next year or left behind to decorate wherever you spend your Christmas. The ornaments are flat, sturdy cardboard, so they could also survive the trip home without the book if you need space.
Candlewick Press, an imprint of Walker Books Group, brings us the Where’s Waldo advent calendar. This is a book-style advent calendar with 24 days of tiny Where’s Waldo books. Each book has several Where’s Waldo puzzles, plus jokes and activities. On the 24th, there’s a special extra treat – a mini Waldo that you can play your own game of Where’s Waldo.
The Where’s Waldo advent calendar is pretty tall, but still fairly flat, so it can be packed for travel. The books are about palm-sized and can be packed back into the advent calendar or taken home without the backing, but you’ll need to be careful about how you pack them. The books are just a few pages each, so you could open the advent calendar in the morning and do the puzzles throughout the day. If you choose to reuse the calendar the following year, the puzzles will be just as challenging (unless your littles have super memory).
Penguin Random House is offering a Bluey advent calendar, too. This is another book-style advent calendar that is also full of books! Each of the 24 windows contains a tiny Bluey storybook. The book, when opened completely and turned over, the front and back covers are a glimpse into the Bluey family Christmas. The inside of the advent calendar is a holiday at a paradise resort with the family playing around the pool.
As with the other two Penguin Random House advent calendars, this one is also a large, sturdy, flat book that can be brought along if the family travels over the holidays. The mini books are easily read in just a few minutes, so could be a bedtime activity if your littles like stories in bed. The calendar’s windows open, so it’s not as easy to reuse, but it’s still possible. If you’re on the road, the advent calendar can be left behind and the mini story books can be brought home, if packed carefully.
The detail about the Richard Scarry ornaments being removable and reusable across years stood out to me, since most advent calendars are essentially single-use once the windows are torn open. I’m curious whether the gold hanging cords are sturdy enough to survive being packed away and reused, or if they tend to tangle and fray after a season or two. That reusability angle seems like the real selling point compared to the Bluey version’s punch-out windows.
Exploring new book releases from Penguin Random House is always exciting! Curating quality literature reviews, family reading picks, and engaging blogs aren’t Easy Games; it takes real dedication to foster a reading community. Thank you, GayNYCDad, for consistently sharing fantastic book recommendations and literary inspiration for readers!