Christmas is all wrapped up with three amazing books

Take a peek behind the scenes of the enthralling new Fantastic Beasts film, The Crimes of Grindelwald, and get ready for the Christmas showing of an animated TV mini-series of Richard Adams' classic Watership Down with two exciting tie-in books.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald: Movie Magic by Jody RevensonFantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald: Movie Magic by Jody Revenson
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald: Movie Magic by Jody Revenson

Age 8 plus:

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald: Movie Magic by Jody Revenson

If your youngsters can’t get enough of the wizarding world of the new Fantastic Beasts film, The Crimes of Grindelwald, then wrap up this wonderful book as a Christmas gift treat.

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The eagerly awaited sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them transports fans once again into the heart an amazing adventure. Written by J.K. Rowling and directed by David Yates, the film follows the adventures of Magizoologist Newt Scamander, played by Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne.

Packed with captivating facts and incredible images from the making of the film, The Crimes of Grindelwald: Movie Magic features a thrilling, child-friendly, behind-the-scenes peek at the characters, magical locations, beasts, and artefacts that appear on the screen.

The Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald has escaped to Paris and has set about gathering followers. In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plans of raising pure-blood wizards to rule over all non-magical beings, Hogwarts professor Albus Dumbledore enlists his former student and beloved Magizoologist Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead.

Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.

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This beautifully designed and illustrated interactive book offers an informative guide to all the fantastical characters and contains hundreds of fascinating facts and exciting added extras from maps, removable posters and props from the film to intriguing flaps to lift and colourful stickers.

With its glossy pages, classy design and with the words of author Jody Revenson, who has written extensively about the Harry Potter films, The Crimes of Grindelwald: Movie Magic is a joy to look at and a bewitching adventure for all young Harry Potter fans.

Simply wizard!

(Penguin, hardback, £19.99)

Age 4 plus:

Watership Down: Gift Picture Storybook by Retold by Frank Cottrell-Boyce

As young TV viewers get ready for an exciting animated mini-series of Richard Adams’ classic rabbit adventure Watership Down this Christmas, give them a special surprise with this gift edition picture storybook by Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

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Award-winning author and screenwriter Cottrell-Boyce has produced a beautiful retelling of the original story for younger readers to tie in with the animated four-part mini-series on the BBC and Netflix over the festive period which stars big names like James McAvoy, John Boyega and Olivia Colman.

Adams, who died in 2016, originally began telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters during long car journeys and they insisted it he publish it as a book. It was awarded the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, and went on to sell millions of copies throughout the world.

First published in 1972, the exciting and heart-wrenching adventure story follows a ragtag band of rabbits in the English countryside as they escape the destruction of their warren and the intrusion of mankind, seeking a safe place in order to build their new home. Along the way they go through harrowing trials and experience the dangers of temptation.

The new TV adaptation of Watership Down has been at least four years in the making. With its beautifully re-imagined story by script-writer Tom Bidwell and featuring stunning and evocative CG animation, the retelling of the classic story is perfect for a family audience.

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And this gorgeous gift book, with a text adapted from the TV scripts by Cottrell-Boyce, is illustrated with full colour drawings and images from the TV animation which bring the rabbits’ adventures to vivid life.

Meet the famous rabbits including Hazel, one of the Sandleford rabbits leaders, storyteller Bluebell, Fiver who is Hazel’s younger brother, El-ahrairah, the smart rabbit folk hero, and General Woundwort, the tyrannical Chief Rabbit of Efrafa.

This stunning gift book will be treasured by fans of the story that won millions of hearts, as well as new readers introduced to this epic tale by the television adaptation.

(Macmillan Children’s Books, hardback, £12.99)

Age 4 plus:

Watership Down: The Colouring Book

Also tying in with the animated mini-series is this delightful Watership Down colouring book, created in publisher Macmillan’s hugely successful and stylish colouring book format.

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Youngsters will love colouring in some very special rabbits, including the leaders Hazel and Fiver, in this striking book inspired by the animated version. And as youngsters colour their way through this amazing rural landscape, vivid quotations from the stunning re-telling of the classic tale help bring the story to life.

The elegant black line images and decorations are all drawn from the animation and feature everyone’s favourite rabbits interwoven with delicate patterns based on the plants and animals that inhabit their world.

Packed with enchanting images and eye-catching designs, this is both a colouring book and a creative keepsake.

(Macmillan Children’s Books, paperback, £10)