One of our favorite things to do during the season is get cozy under a blanket, cuddle and read Christmas books in the light of a Christmas tree. We always have our favorite books that come out of storage, but some of the fun is discovering new stories together. This year it’s a little harder to go out and browse through books, so we took the liberty to find some and share them with you!
As a side note, one or both of the Christmas Gals has read all but one of the books we are going to share. Our oldest kids are 10/11 and I really feared my video game loving 10 year old would think all of this was beneath him, but he loved every singe one we read! It made my heart very happy as I know he’s growing up way too fast! As for my 5 year old – he just can not be bothered to sit and listen.
5 More Sleeps ’Til Christmas
This is a brand new book just released in November and written by beloved comedian and TV host Jimmy Fallon. It’s pages are filled with adorable illustrations of a young boy who is having a hard time waiting those last five sleeps until Christmas. I think any child listening to this book will be able to relate!
The Christmas Wish
The Christmas Wish is written by Lori Evert and photographed by Per Breiehagen. It was released in 2013. Yes, that’s right photographed, not illustrated! This beautiful hard covered book is filled with pristine snow covered hills, a darling little girl and some animal friends she makes along her way to the North Pole. It is her wish to be one of Santas elves. This book has an underlying message of being helpful and kind, something both my kids need to hear from other sources than just me! Reese and I ooohhhhed out loud at the animal photos, and it brought on conversations of what we would do if we were on this trip. If you or your kids is an animal lover, this is a sure hit!
If You Ever Want to Bring a Pirate to Meet Santa, DON’T!
We shared a favorite Christmas pirate book with you last year, and I was hesitant to try another, but was happy I did. Written by Elise Parsley and released in 2018, this book has a similar set up to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie books, but hilarity ensues when it’s a naughty pirate, a kid who wants to be on the nice list and a parent who is beside himself! Santa even has to walk the plank in this one! I can’t imagine getting off the naughty list after that! If you have any little buckaroos of your own, they will love this book!
How to Catch Santa
Written by Jean Reagan and illustrated by Lee Wildish with a 2015 release date. This book starts inside the cover with funny and outlandish letters to Santa. The children are putting things on their Christmas list like a cloud, x-ray eyes or even Santa’s very own sleigh! This is a holiday how to book with planning out all kinds of questions kids would love to ask Santa if they had the time, things they might want to tell him or gifts to give him. There are ways to distract him and things to put around the house as clues that he’s been there! Both of my kids enjoyed this book and asked to read it again the next night!
Santa’s Story
This book is written by Will Hillenbrand and was new last year. It is a fast and fun read. He cleverly brings the reindeer to life with human traits and reinforces how important tradition is to all of them. Both the illustrations and words brought laughter from my kids.
The Christmas Tree Wish
This book came out in 2019 and is written by Karen Inglis and illustrated by Anne Swift. It starts with a snowy Christmas Eve morning and a few Christmas trees are still at the garden center hoping their wish of being picked to go home with a family still will come true. One of the trees realizes something is wrong with it and he fears he won’t be picked. The undertones of ‘no one is perfect’ is really sweetly illustrated as none of the trees are perfect. No one gives up hope and, of course, there is a very sweet and happy ending.
How to Catch an Elf
How to Catch an Elf, from the team of Adam Wallace & Andy Elkerton, came out in 2019. Out of all the books we read, this was Reese’s favorite! This book doesn’t have anything to do with the other book we recommended, How to Catch Santa. But, since no one has ever caught Santa, they moved on to his Elf! The brightly colored illustrations practically jump off the page. The writing is clever and it has things that boys love, like drones, booby traps, and burps! Santa and his elf work as a team to make sure they don’t get caught and a few kids end up on the naught list! If you have a high energy boy, they will LOVE this book!
The Crayons’ Christmas
Of all the books, this was my personal favorite! If you are like us, you are already fans of the crayons from their first two books, The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home. This Christmas book is no less brilliant! It is filled with actual Christmas letters for the crayons from far away family members. The fun details in these books are so creative, including the addresses of the letters, what’s inside the letters and the quirkiness of each crayon. It starts with beige crayon in his giant underwear (Duncan, his owner had peeled off his wrapper in the first book and he didn’t enjoy being naked) and letter from his mom and dad. Next the Christmas decorations come out and there are jokes about being packed away forever! I laughed at this book just as much or more then my kids. You absolutely can’t go wrong with this book!
Dasher
Dasher is another book that was new in 2019. It tells us the story of how Santa went from a horse drawn sleigh to being pulled by eight reindeer, all because of a brave little reindeer named Dasher. The illustrations in this book have a dark hue to them, a lot of navy blue night skies and dark brown reindeer. Then Santa shows up and his beautiful red suit and impressive red and green sleigh pop off the page. Oh how I wish I could pull the sleigh out of this story and place it in my front yard!
A World of Cookies For Santa
This was my husbands favorite book by far and I will tell you why in a minute. This book takes you to 32 different places to share with you what their name for Santa is and what type of cookie and drink they leave for Santa. It ends with nine different cookie recipes from around the world. Everyone laughed a lot at this book, hearing some leave a beer or Sherry out for Santa or a Chai tea, which is a personal favorite, but they laughed the most at me stuttering my way through all the different pronunciations of Santa Claus! We had some fun with this book! After I butchered a name we would ask Siri or Google the correct pronunciation, something my husband took too much joy in watching me struggle! Siri knew some (and I think I sounded exactly like what she said!) and others she didn’t know the language. If you are looking for a multi cultural experience, this is a fun read!
The Stolen Presents, A Christmas Story
This is an unofficial Minecraft hidden objects book for early readers. I’ll be honest, I didn’t have a lot of hope for this book, but both of my kids loved it. They both play this video game and understood everything in it. I had Reese read it to me, and he couldn’t get through one page without giving me a whole explanation of what I was looking at. It all went over my head. There are presents hidden through out the book that the kids can look for and find. It is on the shorter side, but it was a hit in this house!
The Angel Tree
The Angel Tree is a chapter book that I bought through Reese’s preschool scholastics program seven years ago. Every year at Christmas a large tree appears in the center of town and they call it the Angel Tree. People tie wishes to the tree and their wishes come true. No one knows who makes the wishes come true or who is responsible for the tree. Four kids come together with wishes of their own that they know are way too big to be fulfilled. They decide to team up and figure out who is behind this amazing Christmas tradition. I read this book aloud back when we got it and Reese is re reading it on his own this year. If you have a reader this is a 4th grade reading level and appeals to 3rd – 6th graders.
Santa Inc.
Santa Inc is a book that was just released and neither one of us have read it, but I did buy it and start it!
Eric is a different eight year old with a vivid and untamed imagination. But in Our Lady of Mercy Orphanage, the decrepit old building where he lives, wicked Sister Prudence fills the orphaned boy’s days with work and chores.
When Eric is locked in the basement for misbehavior, he discovers a tunnel to the building next door. There he finds Santa Inc., the global headquarters of Santa’s business empire. This begins an adventure that changes the boy’s lives forever and reawakens in Santa the true spirit of Christmas!
I do plan on sitting and reading this book when there is time, I’m really looking forward to it and enjoyed the first two chapters.
We hope you find our book list helpful and have lots of new memories to make snuggling with the ones you love in the twinkle of Christmas lights!
-Christmas Gal Shendra
