Favorite Christmas Picture Books

Last year in a post called Read Christmas Books Together, I talked about our tradition of giving each child a beautiful picture book that could become part of a great collection that they could share with their own kids some day . That post was part of a series I did called 25 Days of Christmas Activities to Do With Your Family which you can check out here. And, last year I shared our top ten favorite Christmas Pictures Books.  But the truth is that it was SOOOOOOO hard to pick just ten.  So this year, I am sharing a few more of our Favorite Christmas Picture Books.

Our Favorite Christmas Picture Books

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Last Year’s Picks for Gifts

The two books I picked for purchase last year were both recommended to me by my school’s librarian who is a close friend and who knows my children quite well.

For The Boy, we decided on Little Blue Truck’s Christmas.  This cute little book chronicles the story of the Little Blue Truck’s Christmas deliveries.  Five Christmas trees all must make it to their appropriate homes.  It’s a counting book that is perfect for younger readers.  First we count up and then we count down.  And the book twinkles at the end.  Who doesn’t love a book that light’s up?

For Sunshine, we went with Santa’s Favorite Story.  This is the the story Santa tells the woodland animals that is his favorite Christmas story.  And it is not a story that include him.  Instead, it is the story of the first Christmas.

This Year’s Gift Picks

I sometimes purchase the books that we choose for our gifts a little bit “blind.”  Last year, I went fully on the recommendations from my school’s librarian.  This year, I am purchasing two books that we got from the library last year and loved.

This year, Sunshine will receive The Legend of the Candy Cane.  We both enjoyed this book so much last year when we got it from the library, that this year, we felt certain we owned it already.  I dug through our two bins of Christmas books to no avail.  She dug through our Christmas books, insistent that we already owned it.  We will own it soon.  This is the story of a candy maker who moves into a prairie town and, of course, befriends the children.  Soon, he teaches them about the candy cane and it’s connection to Jesus, his suffering, death and goodness.

One of the qualities I am looking for when I make the purchase of THE Christmas book for each child is beautiful illustrations.  The Christmas Ship which is both written and illustrated by Dean Morrissey does not disappoint.  The story is of Sam, the local toy maker.  It is Christmas Eve and in a very Scrooge-like move, the mayor has just informed Sam that his shop has been condemned.  In his deepest moment of sadness, Sam is visited by Father Christmas who is behind schedule and needs Sam’s help.  In a story that demonstrates the power of thinking of others before yourself, the magic of Christmas ensues.

Other Favorite Christmas Picture Books

The Books of Jan Brett

              

When I created last year’s list of favorite Christmas picture books, I only included one Jan Brett Book, The Night Before Christmas.  But, truthfully, how can a list of favorite Christmas picture books not include multiple books by Jan Brett?  She may be the most amazing illustrator of children’s books out there.  The detail that she includes in the main illustration is truly captivating.  And the foreshadowing that she includes in the side panels is stunning.  If you have never seen a book illustrated by Jan Brett, I COMMAND you to RUN (no walking here) to your library or book store and find one, NOW.

Many of her Christmas stories revolve around trolls and are Scandanavian in origin.  In Who’s that Knocking on Christmas Eve, The Trouble with Trolls and Christmas Trolls, the protagonist outsmarts the nasty trolls and save Christmas for her family.

And Jan Brett’s The Twelve Days of Christmas is also lovely.

Santa and his Sleigh

    

Last year, I mentioned that our children love, love, love Who Will Guide My Sleigh Tonight.  (Thanks, Joyce!)  Because they loved that book so much, I also purchased Jerry Pallota’s Dinosaur Christmas.  In this book Santa tells of the time before there were reindeer when he had to rely on dinosaurs to pull his sleigh.  Sunshine giggles every time we read this book.  Her favorite dinosaur puller is the stegosaurus who are apparently so slow that it takes them days to deliver the gifts.  The calendar page reads December 27.

Among The Boy’s first book loves were the Gossie and Friends by Olivier Dunrea.  As a result, his very first Christmas gift was was Merry Christmas Ollie!  This little book is for even the youngest of listeners.  It’s all about how hard it is to wait for Father Christmas Goose.  These little goslings are so sweet that it is easy to empathize with the difficulty of waiting.

The True Meaning of Christmas

The Lost Gift was one of Sunshine’s Christmas books a few years back.  The animals of the forest see Santa flying overhead and realize that a gift has dropped from the sleigh.  They realize he won’t becoming back to get it. So, they make it their job to get it the appropriate recipient:  “The Baby at the Farm.”

This book was a gift from my grandmother who was an avid catalogue shopper.  I wish I could remember the name of the company because a number of our favorite books came from this distributor, but The Message of the Birds is a lovely story told by the owl about the message of Christmas that the birds sang at the first Christmas.  But then they stopped because no one was listening.  The story continues on to show that if the birds keep telling the story, eventually people will begin to listen again.

Christmas in the Barn is just that.  It is the story of the birth of the baby Jesus and all his visitors.  And everyone is welcome in that barn. It is simply told in a way that even the youngest of readers can enjoy it.

Our Favorite Christmas Picture Books–Pop-up

Another book we treasure was also a gift is our 12 Days of Christmas pop-up book by Robert Sabuda.  This book came from my first school librarian.  She was already retired by the time I got married and Sunshine was born.  However we are Christmas card friends still, and upon learning the news of Sunshine’s birth, she sent us a care package of books.  (Umm…would you expect anything less from a friend who is also a librarian?!)  In that package was this, most amazing, pop-up book.  This is definitely a must have for your Christmas collection.

Enjoy Reading During this Christmas Season

We love our Christmas realouds.  They are part of how we celebrate Christmas for all of Advent and through Epiphany.  A solid 6 weeks of reading our favorite Christmas Picture Books.  We hope that you too will pick up a few new Christmas books this holiday season that you can pull out year after year.

And maybe, begin a new tradition of buying that “just right” book for your children each year that they can treasure for years to come.  If you want to read more about our tradition, check out my post from last year:  Read Christmas Books.  It explains our family tradition of getting each child a “heirloom” Christmas book.

Oh, and in the comments below, let us know your favorite Christmas picture books.  We would love to know what you are reading this Christmas season.  Who knows maybe you will even influence our future gift purchases!

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