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Spot the Dog
Spot's First Christmas
Spot and his mom are preparing for Christmas Day by taking the tree home and decorating it, wrapping presents and enjoying the Christmas carolers at their door. With a new, full-color cover, young toddlers will enjoy this classic Spot board book with its sturdy, rounded-edge pages and lift-the-flaps.
12 pages, Board book
First published January 1, 1983
5 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
About the author
Eric Hill
849 books119 followersEric Gordon Hill OBE was a popular author and illustrator of children's picture books, best known for his character Spot the Dog. His works have been widely praised for their contributions to child literacy. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
November 30, 2020
This was one of Boy's first Christmas gifts. It is adorable and we read it countless times.
October 16, 2023
This was one of The First books I Ever Read. A classic book, from the Spot collection. Great for babies to toddlers!
March 13, 2025
Basic concepts of exploring the world and making friends define the first few Spot the Dog books, and Spot's First Christmas expands into the arena of holiday fun. It's hard for a young pup to focus as Father Christmas's arrival nears, but Spot and Sally have much to do before the big day.
A Christmas tree has to be selected, of course. Gifts need to be wrapped with care, and the tree decorated artfully. Carolers show up at the door to perform a song. Can Sally corral Spot into bed before he tracks down his present hidden in the tree's boughs? With Spot finally snuggled in bed, Father Christmas can enter the scene. Come morning, our favorite pup is ecstatic to find his stocking filled with gifts. Spot's first Christmas is one he'll cherish always.
The vocabulary is a notch more complex than previous books, but nothing extreme. The story premise is less original, but spending Christmas with an excitable youngster is a blessing. Counting down the hours with Spot will help prereaders bond with him closer than ever.
A Christmas tree has to be selected, of course. Gifts need to be wrapped with care, and the tree decorated artfully. Carolers show up at the door to perform a song. Can Sally corral Spot into bed before he tracks down his present hidden in the tree's boughs? With Spot finally snuggled in bed, Father Christmas can enter the scene. Come morning, our favorite pup is ecstatic to find his stocking filled with gifts. Spot's first Christmas is one he'll cherish always.
The vocabulary is a notch more complex than previous books, but nothing extreme. The story premise is less original, but spending Christmas with an excitable youngster is a blessing. Counting down the hours with Spot will help prereaders bond with him closer than ever.
December 24, 2019
"Merry Christmas, Spot!"
February 2, 2013
I never read this as a child, but I read other Spot-books. My 2 year old son absolutely loved this one which I got him for Christmas. Something about the characters, pictures and first of all the flips is just incredibly fascinating for children.
June 20, 2022
absolute banger
December 11, 2017
A cute Christmas book with flaps.
December 18, 2021
This brings back childhood memories. I used to love the Spot books when I was a child and reading this now gave me a moment of pure nostalgia and bliss. It was a pleasure to, if only for a moment, go back to being a kid at Christmas reading this with my dad.
February 15, 2018
This is a book based on Christmas where the character Spot gets ready for Christmas Day. Readers can learn and understand Christmas as on each double page Spot helps with a different aspect of Christmas eg wrapping the presents and decorating the tree. This is a fun and humerus interactive book with lift the flaps on each double page which allows younger readers to be more involved. The text is written in black on all bar one right hand side page. The background for all bar one double page is white making the text and images stand out more.
January 2, 2024
Jack received this book as a hand me down.
The story follows Spot’s poor mum, who is apparently named Sally, as she strives to do all the family’s Christmas traditions on Christmas Eve, while Spot tries to help but mostly gets in the way. I have to wonder where Dad is, as he’s in the road trip book but not this one.
Jack seemed to like the dogs and was interested in the “lift the flap” elements. The book also has huge font, which I imagine is helpful for little ones.
The story follows Spot’s poor mum, who is apparently named Sally, as she strives to do all the family’s Christmas traditions on Christmas Eve, while Spot tries to help but mostly gets in the way. I have to wonder where Dad is, as he’s in the road trip book but not this one.
Jack seemed to like the dogs and was interested in the “lift the flap” elements. The book also has huge font, which I imagine is helpful for little ones.
November 24, 2020
Easy for young children to read as has nice big words in the page. This book also had the added advantage of being a pop up book, that combined with the thick board pages means it’s a easy one for young hands to turn and explore. Perfect for the last part of autumn term
December 24, 2022
I wasn't going to add this, as it would look like a cheat to get to my reading goal, but since I'm going to make it anyway I'll put it in as I read it in the supermarket the other day and remembered being 3 and absolutely loving the Spot books <3
December 10, 2023
Amatissimo già dall' anno passato che la polpetta aveva nove mesi perché con le finestrelle da aprire. Non spiega il Natale ma sono riportate le fasi salienti come addobbare casa, fare l'albero, scartare regali ecc.
February 19, 2018
OK, kids enjoy to open the flaps, but that's all the plus this book offers.
The whole thing is just so silly, I'm afraid it actually kills synopses in our kids' brains.
Brrr.
The whole thing is just so silly, I'm afraid it actually kills synopses in our kids' brains.
Brrr.
December 26, 2019
Sweet lift the flap Christmas book.
January 9, 2020
A lovely little christmas spot book. My 10 month old loved it
June 12, 2021
I loved to read these books at my local library when I was a child.
August 7, 2022
Spot is so excited about Christmas and getting in the way, etc. Like a real boy. LOL
December 31, 2022
A gift from our nextdoor neighbour
June 25, 2023
This may seem so silly,writing a review for a children’s book,but this was one of the first novels I “read”,and these story’s of “spot” will always hold such special memories for me :)
December 16, 2024
Spot explores all the things to do with Christmas.
January 16, 2025
Book used in our book baby storytime. It was fun to find the things hidden under the flaps.
November 28, 2013
This is such an easy to read book that many teachers would overlook how helpful it can be to readers who have trouble with reading fluently or ESOL students. The repetition of the book is very helpful for these readers to simply "scoop" their words together. The more practice they are able to get with this the more apt they are to apply this to other books. Also the illustrations are fun and interactive since they have the flaps that students can uncover.
December 15, 2016
Love Spot. This book for a storytime? Not so much. But it's cute to see a favorite puppy excited for Christmas. And Lift-the-Flaps are always a joy.
12/14/16 & 12/15/16 Well, I was desperate for something Christmas and Toddler-appropriate. So I thought I would try it. It wasn't the best thing I've ever done, but actually went well for both groups. So, yay.
12/14/16 & 12/15/16 Well, I was desperate for something Christmas and Toddler-appropriate. So I thought I would try it. It wasn't the best thing I've ever done, but actually went well for both groups. So, yay.
December 5, 2009
This book would be better suited for an older toddler because it has lift-the-flaps inside.
December 10, 2009
Spot's a cutie, as ever!
January 12, 2012
Spot the dog misses the point of his first Christmas by falling asleep.
January 21, 2013
Cute picture book. :)
December 6, 2015
Cute. Spot isn't much of a helper in the book though.
January 20, 2016
This was my daughters book. I could not part with it. Cute book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews