Crickhowell book store Book-ish are to co-host a Countdown to Christmas event with MacMillan Children’s Books for thousands of schoolchildren across the UK.

The event will be a virtual event with children’s book author Alex T Smith, author of How Winston Delivered Christmas and the Claude book series which are both set to be adapted into television shows.

Alex is the creator of Winston, a plucky, homeless young mouse, who first appears in his book How Winston Delivered Christmas, a heart-warming tale of bravery, kindness and unlikely friendships.

This autumn Bookish celebrate the publication of his second adventure, How Winston Came Home for Christmas.

Alongside the story, each chapter in the books also features fun festive things to make and do – like writing a letter to Father Christmas and making mince pies, Christmas cards, presents and decorations.

So not only are they lovely Christmas stories to share, the books can also be used to do activities together which will be sure to become festive school – or family – traditions to enjoy year after year.

Emma Corfield-Walters, the owner of the bookshop Book-ish has been a huge champion for the book community during the pandemic, having crowdfunded thousands of pounds to get Marcus Rashford’s book You are a Champion into the hands of school children around the country and has been a major support for the first Winston book ‘How Winston Came Home for Christmas’ hand-selling over 100 copies of the book - an amazing feat for one independent bookseller in the corner of Wales.

The event with Alex T Smith hosted by Emma is looking to reach thousands of children in schools all around the UK to welcome in the countdown to Christmas.

Speaking about the event, Book-ish owner Emma Corfield-Walters said: “During this 45-minute event Alex will introduce his character Winston the mouse, read from the books, answer questions and lead a drawing session featuring Winston.

‘‘It’s the perfect way for you to start your own countdown to Christmas in the classroom. “The event with be ‘live-streamed’ on Zoom and is suitable for pupils in years 1-6.

‘‘We recommend that the event is screened into individual classrooms rather than as an assembly type event for the maximum impact.”

The virtual event will take place at 10am on Tuesday November 9.

For schools that want to take part in the event please contact [email protected] to register your interest.