Christmas is exactly one month from today. (!!) And Hanukkah starts in only three weeks. If you're thinking of doing a book advent, or just reading a bunch of holiday books, I'd recommend that you hurry up and request some from your library right now, because they go fast.
As I mentioned in my advent post last week, some of our favorite Christmas books are:
- The Jolly Christmas Postman
- Who wouldn't love a book about Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs celebrating Christmas - especially with all the adorable surprises in the postman's envelopes?
- The Story of Christmas
- An oversized retelling of the nativity story, with small children dressed up as Mary, Joseph, wise men, etc.
- Merry Christmas, Curious George
- As usual, George is up to mischief. But this time his mischief makes a bunch of kids in the hospital happy for Christmas.
- B Is for Bethlehem: A Christmas Alphabet Board Book
- A beautiful retelling of Jesus's birth, with amazing mosaic-type illustrations.
- Christmas Around the World
- Both of my girls love the bright pictures in this one, and I like that it teaches a little about how Christmas is celebrated in different cultures.
I was going to add to our favorites, and make a list of 'Best Christmas Books Ever'... but then I realized that a lot of other people have beaten me to it. So instead, I'm making a round-up of lists of Christmas, winter, snow, and Hanukkah books! I made sure that these lists are full of good books, with descriptions of each one, so they should be genuinely useful as you hunt for books this holiday season. (Don't worry! I didn't include any clickbait lists from coupon websites. Also - did you know that Pinterest is FULL of those? So annoying!)
Have fun checking out these lists, and reading some awesome books with your kids! And, if you'd like to listen to some Christmas music while reading, I've made a couple of Spotify playlists to share. You can pick either my Reflective Christmas playlist, or my Festive Holiday Mix. Enjoy!
- 25 Jesus-Centered Books to Celebrate Advent - I particularly like the look of Humphrey's First Christmas, which tells the story from a camel's point of view! I'm so sad our library doesn't have it.
- 10 Must-Read Christmas Books for Kids - I just requested Christmas in the Big Woods! If Eleanor likes it, I think I'll start reading the Little House books aloud to her.
- 20 Magical Children's Christmas Books to Read Aloud - We love reading Carl's Christmas and Morris's Disappearing Bag already. I was excited to discover that Eric Carle has a Christmas book; I didn't know that!
- Six Christmas Books and One Chanukah Story - This is my list from two years ago. I really love the Tomie De Paola illustrated version of The Night Before Christmas. And Latkes, Latkes, Good to Eat
is super cute.
- Top 10 Winter & Snowmen Books - I love all of the ones on this list! Especially Snowy Day, I never get tired of that one. And Lita Judge's books are awesome too.
- Books About Snow - I wasn't familiar with a lot of these. I think Holly's Red Boots and Stella, Queen of the Snow both sound adorable. (Unfortunately our library only carries "Estela, Reina de la Nieve'. And my Spanish is very limited.)
- 8 Hanukkah Books for 8 Nights - I just reserved Happy Hanukkah, Curious George. I'm hoping that it's as cute as the Thanksgiving and Christmas ones, and will help me to teach Eleanor a little bit about Jewish traditions.
- 25 Christmas Books with Crafts to Match - We love Karma Wilson's "Bear" books, and I'd already requested Bear Stays Up for Christmas from the library. I like the idea of making a craft to accompany it! And that it comes in board book form, so Juliet won't wreck it.
What books does YOUR family love?
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