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Fantastic review by Anastasia Gonis in the new issue of Buzz Words, just out! Here it is, with the permission of Buzz Words.

Two Trickster Tales from Russia retold by Sophie Masson,

illustrated by David Allan (Christmas Press)

PB RRP $22.95 (buy direct from publisher, or from bookshops

listed on site)

ISBN 9780992283803

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

To all the people that have loved classic fairytales and longed for their resurrection, take heart! With its first publication, Two Trickster Tales from Russia, Christmas Press has returned the classic tale to new generations of readers with the promise that classic tales from all over the world will be reborn in a fresh and exciting fashion. This is a new enterprise with artist David Allan making his illustrative debut, who with designer/artist/writer Fiona McDonald and author Sophie Masson make up the trio that form Christmas Press.

This beautiful book contains two tales from Russia. In Masha and the Bear, a simple trip to the woods to collect berries leads Masha into a bear’s clutches. But she is clever and resourceful, and soon finds a way to get home. With The Rooster with the Golden Crest, a rooster that refuses to listen to logic, finds himself in the clutches of a hungry fox, not once but three times. He is saved from ending up as dinner by his fast-thinking friends, a cat and a thrush.

The illustrations are presented in colour, sepia, and black and white. Delicate lines and intricate details return with full page pictures, borders and double-paged spreads. The design and layout is superb and the language has been adapted well to weave in with and complement the entire structure of the book. The book can be read or listened to with equal pleasure.

Yesterday, Saturday September 28, was the first official launch for both our gorgeous first book, Two Trickster Tales from Russia, and the Press itself! We had an absolutely wonderful afternoon with many friends and supporters at Fiona’s beautiful shop, Granny Fi’s Toy Cupboard in Uralla, northern NSW, with event management ably piloted by Granny Fi manager and Christmas Press Facebook publicist Beattie Alvarez.  Award-winning author James Roy did the launch honours beautifully, our local State MP kindly took the time out from his busy schedule to pop in, the pink and white bubbly flowed,  and everyone just loved the book and the beautiful limited-edition prints also on sale. A really warm and exciting official welcome to the book and Christmas Press in our region. Thank you very much to all who attended–we had a lot of fun too! Here are some pictures.

Sophie Masson was interviewed today about Christmas Press and Two Trickster Tales from Russia on Kids’ Book Review, a popular children’s literature blog. Have a read!

A lovely review by author Sue Bursztynski of Two Trickster Tales from Russia–the first one!

And another one from reader and aspiring author Katrina Stewart, about both the book and the Press.

From our local paper, The Armidale Express.

Here’s a piece about the story behind Christmas Press, as published on Stephanie Dowrick and Walter Mason’s Universal Heart Book Club blog.

All welcome!

Here’s the text of an article about us published today, September 11, in the Australian Bookseller and Publisher magazine’s Weekly Books Newsletter, online. Article by Eloise Keating.

New children’s publisher to focus on traditional folktales

A new Australian children’s book publisher called Christmas Press will specialise in publishing traditional folktales from around the world.

Christmas Press has been founded by well-known children’s author Sophie Masson, illustrator David Allan and author and designer Fiona McDonald. The first title in the Christmas Press list, Two Trickster Tales from Russia by Masson and Allan, was published this month. An audiobook edition, which will include music and sound effects, will be released in time for Christmas.

Two Trickster Tales from Russia features two Russian folktales—‘Masha and the Bear’ and ‘The Rooster with the Golden Crest’—accompanied by illustrations inspired by classic Russian children’s picture books. Christmas Press said in a statement that future Christmas Press titles will be based on folktales from other countries and written by different authors, with illustrations that are ‘reminiscent of the countries the stories come from’.

Masson told Books+Publishing that the next Christmas Press titles will be published in 2014, with plans underway for two titles. ‘We really want to keep up the high standards we’ve set and that’s why we want to concentrate on a small list, at least initially,’ said Masson. At this stage, Christmas Press titles will not be available in digital format, as the Christmas Press team ‘feel that picture books work best as print books,’ said Masson.

Masson said that the name Christmas Press was chosen as ‘“Christmas” conjures up not only a holiday time of celebration and family parties, but also of books given as presents and devoured over Christmas, and re-read again and again over the year’.

‘We started this company because we felt there was a real niche opening for us in this area, a niche not filled by traditional publishers, at least in Australia, and because it felt like a much more interesting and rewarding avenue than the usual kind of self-publishing,’ said Masson. ‘Though this first book features our work, we’re not interested in only publishing our work. We want to take in the talents of many gifted creators.’

Masson said that around 65% of the printing costs for Two Trickster Tales from Russia were raised through a crowdfunding campaign, ‘which was a huge help’ by generating pre-orders for the book and ‘some great promotion and publicity’. ‘It was simply wonderful to receive such great support from fellow creators and other people in the book industry, who were all as excited as we were about our project,’ said Masson.

Booksellers can order Christmas Press titles directly from the publisher, while libraries can order directly from the publisher or through bookshops and library suppliers. For more information, visit the Christmas Press website here.

All welcome!

The list of booksellers who love our book and will be stocking it just keeps growing–have a look at the ‘Buying our books page’.  It is such a pleasure to be able to show them such a beautiful product–and so satisfying when these wonderful professionals’ eyes light up at the sight of it! And we are getting such great responses too from our crowdfunding contributors, who love the book, from libraries, kids, and parents! Very exciting indeed.

Meanwhile we are planning the launch of the book, and the official launch of Christmas Press too! There’ll be two launches–one in late September in our region, in Uralla, and one in October in Sydney. Details of the Sydney launch will soon be forthcoming, but here are the details for the Uralla launch for our regional readers and customers:

Saturday, September 28, 4pm, at Granny Fi’s Toy Cupboard, 42 Bridge St, Uralla 2365.  The book will be launched by acclaimed award-winning author James Roy. This is a free event, all welcome, refreshments provided and of course the books will be on sale, along with prints and merchandise. Come and raise a glass with us and celebrate!