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I saw The Nicht Afore Christmas in a shop for the first time and it blew my mind. I think this book is important for many reasons but it was just SO COOL to see it in person, with other beautiful books, just lookin normal
Now, here are some reasons I think it’s important>
Now, here are some reasons I think it’s important>
Of course it shouldn’t be remarkable - having kids books written in or translated into Scots of all different kinds should be 
but still, despite all the masses of progress made in the last 15 or 20 years, it is actually 
but still, despite all the masses of progress made in the last 15 or 20 years, it is actually
I always remember Ivor McAskill saying that you have to speak to kids in the mainstream because that is where kids are. Adults might like being fringey and edgy, but kids are in the middle of culture. So is Christmas. Having Scots in that - the MIDDLE - is wonderful
Scots + Christmas is glorious also because we have imported most of our Christmas traditions - we had it banned here for hundreds of years, ken. This is the translation of an American poem, one at the heart of our current ideas of Christmas, and here it is in Scots in Scotland
And that is one of the massive things for me. This isn’t *just* in Scots language. It is in a Scottish visual world too. It is a beautiful, high quality book, which you can SEE is in Scotland, by Scottish people.
I’m struck constantly by the way my daughter’s books always presume a house or home is a detached building with a private garden. At best they might be in a London-style terrace. But she, and her pals, live in flats. Faither Yuletide comes to flats too - fact
The family in this book lives not in a grand Victorian villa, but a normal Victorian tenement as so many Scots do. It could be in Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow... it’s also a specific place, on the street where I used to live - @TenementHouse11
Scotland is in not just the words and the setting. Santa’s clothes pull references from Celtic culture, Vikings, the Picts. His sleigh is inspired by Up Helly Aa. We see him fly over Scottish landmarks. All that and the paper is really lovely.
Paper quality and the use of a Scottish tenement setting seem unconnected, but kids GET production values and as a kid I knew that things that were Scottish were a bit ‘homemade’ - sometimes trying to revel in being outside-the-box, but remember, children are inside the box.
I want Scots and Scottish culture in hand risographed zines, and operas at the Festival Theatre. I want it in slick TV shows and shoddily recorded Tik Toks. I want it in chats with grandparents, in schools and in court.
I want it in the voices of toys that talk and from head teachers and news anchors. I want it in beautiful books that you give as gifts and read at night when your kid can’t sleep. I’m so proud of my mum for wanting that and just making it happen through sheer force of will
I also, obviously, want you to buy it. And any of the other amazing Scots language books available now. Read them. Write them. Try it out. Scots language and Scottish culture are worth our time, our creativity and our fun 
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-nicht-afore-christmas/irene-mcfarlane/9781913836023
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-nicht-afore-christmas/irene-mcfarlane/9781913836023
