Christmas Book List

With Christmas around the corner, I thought I would share my on-going list of good Christmas books that I try to get from the library. If you haven't gotten comfortable requesting books from your library online yet, I would suggest looking into it. As a busy mother of young children it saves me a lot of time. I get out my booklists and sit down at the computer and order away. I can dash into the library and pick up a bag full of tried and true treasures without spending hours sorting through mountains of twaddle. (Twaddle = dumbed down literature; absence of meaning) I hold them online and slowly they start rolling in.

After reading the books ourselves, we can then decide which ones we would like to purchase for our own library. I think it's very important to live with books. Not just to borrow from the library and send them back, but to have a growing and vibrant home library that promotes a love of learning and reading. Now that we have been reading some of the same Christmas books every year, I'm starting to see the joy the boys get in reading an old favorite.

I avoid books on Santa, Frosty and Rudolph for the most part. I do think we have a few. The kids know who these characters are and they are fun kept in perspective. We don't feel we are depriving them by not playing along with the whole Santa charade. You can hardly avoid any of this type of Christmas hype by just living in the world today. On the other hand, we have to WORK HARD to remember the true meaning of Christmas and keep that our focus. We talk alot about how consumerism works, how the stores manipulate us by just pushing the next holiday. What is really important, etc. I guess the books we chose also help reinforce that.

I find it very helpful to keep a running list in a notebook of the books we've read, want to read, etc. I also have a list of Thanksgiving and Christmas books that I refer to as the season draws near. If I hear of a good Christmas book in March, I can jot it down on my list and it will still be there come November.

Do you know of a wonderful Christmas book that has escaped my list? If so, please share.

*The asterisks are to show which books we own.

*A Lion in the Box - Marguerite De Angeli
This is an older book you may have trouble finding. We always borrowed ours from the library, but decided to secure our own copy this year on Ebay. We love this story.

*The Story of Holly and Ivy - Rumer Godden


*The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey - Susan Wojciechowski

Cranberry Christmas - Harry & Wende Devlin
This goes along with another favorite of ours, Cranberry Thanksgiving.

*The Tailor of Gloucester - Beatrix Potter

*The Bird's Christmas Carol - Kate Douglas Wiggin

The Gift of the Magi - O'Henry

Becky's Christmas - Tasha Tudor

Take Joy - Tasha Tudor

*The Little Drummer Boy - Ezra Jack Keats

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree - Gloria Houston
This is a great picture book. I'd like to add this one to our library someday.

Early American Christmas - Tomie dePaola

The Family Christmas Tree Book - Tomie dePaola

*One Wintry Night - Ruth Bell Graham

One video we always like to borrow is George Balanchine's The Nutcracker.

This is a wonderful child friendly version of the Nutcracker that is enjoyable for adults as well.



Here is a more extensive list of Holiday books from The Classical Christian Education Support Loop



Primary Reading Level: 1-3

Amish Christmas by Richard Ammon

Christmas in the Barn by Margaret Wise Brown

Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojchiechowski

Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado

First Christmas by Robbie Trent

First Christmas by Tomie de Paola

Grumpy Shepherd by Paddie Devon

Mary, Did You Know? by Mark Lowry

Modestita’s Gift, El Regalo de Modestita by Inez Torres Davis

Peter Spier’s Christmas by Peter Spier

Rembrandt: The Christmas Story published by Thomas Nelson

Silent Night by Susan Jeffers

Story of Christmas: Words from the Gospels of Matthew & Luke by Jane Ray

Who Is Coming to Our House by Joseph Slate



Elementary Reading Level: 4-6

Bells of Christmas by Virginia Hamilton

Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin

Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Christmas Stories of George MacDonald by George MacDonald

Good King Wenceslas by John Mason Neale, illus. by Christopher Manson

An Appalachian Christmas Story by Gloria Houston

On That Night by Elizabeth Yates

One Wintry Night by Ruth Graham

Oxford Illustrated Dickens’ Christmas Books by Charles Dickens

Patricia St. John Christmas Book by Patricia St. John

Rembrandt: The Christmas Story published by Thomas Nelson



Junior Reading Level: 7-9

Gift, The by R. Kent Hughes, illustrated by Ron DiCianni

Martin Luther’s Christmas Book edited by Roland H. Bainton

Rembrandt: The Christmas Story published by Thomas Nelson