10 Christmas Books to Read with Your Kids

This list includes picture books, chapter books, books to make you laugh, feed your imagination, and take you on a Christmas journey around the world, diving into different cultures and traditions.

The best part? It is only 10 books, totally doable.

Let’s start with Four Christmas picture books

The Poky Little Puppy's First Christmas is a classic children's picture book.
Poky Little Puppy’s First Christmas by Justine Korman, Illustrated by Jean Chandler is an adorable classic.

This sweet book is by the author of the Pippi Longstocking books and gives a detailed accounting of what Christmas was like for kids in Sweden in the early 1900’s.

A sweet little story about a tree who just wants to be a Christmas tree.

This is the book that inspired the movie. My kids don’t care for the movie but they do like the book.

Don’t forget some Christmas poetry

There are lots of beautifully illustrated picture books of this classic Christmas poem. Pick one and read away.

The Nutcracker was a book first

Did you know that before becoming a famous ballet the Nutcracker was a long story? Originally written in 1816 by ETA Hoffmann. The version pictured below is a translation illustrated by Maurice Sendak. It is not exactly a picture book and not quite a novel. Falling somewhere in between, this book will take several hours to read, but it is a delightful tale worth reading, whether or not you are going to see the ballet.

Folk tales of the Winter Solstice

Whether you read this in December or save it for January it is a wonderful exploration of traditional tales from different cultures that have the winter solstice as their theme.

Cultural studies with craft ideas

This book is a great addition to your geography/cultural studies for the year. It covers the various Christmas traditions from several different countries and includes traditional craft ideas and directions in the back.

The picture below gives you a peek at what countries are covered in this book.

Time for comedy Christmas

This is our go-to Christmas book when we all need to just sit down and laugh for a while. It follows a typical Church production of the Christmas Pageant but is full of an unusual and unforgettable cast. Will the cast ruin the Christmas Pageant? Or help everyone remember was Christmas is all about?

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a hilarious tale, it is found in the collection above, or you can purchase as a stand-alone book.

No list would be complete without this A Christmas Carol

We can’t leave out this classic, most kids around age 9 or above will enjoy having this book read aloud to them…especially if you can master unique ghost voices.

One Response

  1. Karla Cook says:

    So many great Christmas books! Thanks for sharing!

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