Our Favorite Christmas Books for Kids

It’s the most wonderful tiiiime of the year! And a special holiday book certainly adds to the magic of the season in our house! I’ve mentioned this on the blog in the past, but one of my favorite holiday memories as a little girl centered around my mom and dad pulling a big box of Christmas books out of the attic for me and my sister to enjoy all season long. They tucked them away after Christmas. So something about only reading these holiday stories during the month of December made them feel extra special. And it was something I knew I wanted to do for my kids one day, too.

Fast forward to today and we have three boys who absolutely love reading and listening to stories. Reading is something our entire family loves to do together. And there’s something extra special about curling up on the couch to read a Christmasy story together this time of year. Now that I am a mother, I love adding a book or two to our family’s holiday story library each year and wanted to take some time today to share a few of our favorite Christmas and winter-themed books. Also, I highly recommend checking out some of these books through your local library, as libraries are such a wonderful resource for finding holiday books, too!

Christmas Books for Kids

(Note: Our family celebrates Christmas, so many of the books shared below center around Christmas. But I’ve made a note by the books that are more winter-themed for those looking for some winter wonderland magic!)

Please let me know of Christmas, holiday or winter-themed books your children love. We are always looking for new books to read in our house. And I’d love for others to benefit from your recommendations in the comments section of this post.

• The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia Miller, Illustrated by J.P. Miller

The Sweet Smell of Christmas is possibly my all-time favorite Christmas book for kids because it’s so nostalgic for me. I loved it as a little girl and couldn’t wait to add it to our collection a few years ago. It’s now a classic in our family and our boys adore the scratch-and-sniff smells. Even if they have worn off a bit over the years! The Sweet Smell of Christmas is a book that constantly gets plucked off the pile because our kids adore the story about a little bear who loves smelling everything from hot cocoa and candy canes to pine trees and gingerbread men as he eagerly awaits Christmas Day.

• Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

A couple of years ago, when I mentioned my desire to build a small collection of holiday books for our boys on the blog, a blog reader recommended Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree to me. I immediately ordered it and oh my gosh you guys it is the cutest!! It’s all about a big Christmas tree that’s too tall to fit into the house of fancy-schmancy Mr. Willowby. And so he chops off the top, setting off a spiral of additional tree trimmings from various people and animals who all end up with a little piece of Mr. Willowby’s tree in their homes. The rhyming is adorable, the pictures are whimsical and our whole family loves this sweet story.

• The Mitten by Jan Brett

I have an affinity for Jan Brett novels, as the author came to my elementary school as a kid and we all had the chance to meet her! The illustrations in her books are realistic and stunning and her stories are always interesting and beloved by our boys. The Mitten is a favorite in our house around the holidays, as it’s all about a mitten a little boy’s grandmother knits for him that he loses in the snow. The mitten becomes the perfect cozy spot for a whole crew of animals until it somehow finds its way back to the little boy again. For kids who like to guess what happens next, there are illustrations of the upcoming animals on the sides of each page and our kids love yelling out which animal is going to find its way into the mitten next!

*Not Christmas-themed

• Little Red Sleigh by Erin Guendelsberger, Illustrated by Elizaveta Tretyakova

Little Red Sleigh is a charming story about a small sleigh with big dreams. She longs to one day become Santa’s sleigh and sets off on a journey to the North Pole. Along the way, she meets some friends, a train and a yellow truck, who talk to her (in a very kid-friendly way) about the importance of working hard to achieve our big dreams, making note that we can achieve anything we believe. The pictures are snow-filled and beautiful and the story is charming with an unexpected turn for the Little Red Sleigh when she finds joy in making children happy as they take her sledding.

• Dasher by Matt Tavares

Dasher is a truly stunning picture book about a little reindeer who wants more out of her life than traveling with the circus. When she learns about her family’s previous home under the North Star from her mother, she longs to go there and feel the snow beneath her hooves and the chilly air on her face. She soon finds herself out on her own after a surprise escape and ends up running into Santa. What follows is a charming story about how Dasher and her reindeer family help Santa in his time of need.

• Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson, Illustrated by Jane Chapman

Bear Stays Up for Christmas is a fun little story about a bear whose friends are determined to make him stay awake for Christmas, despite Bear’s intense desire to hibernate through the winter. They work hard to keep him awake by searching for a Christmas tree, making popcorn garlands and thoughtful gifts for each other, singing Christmas songs, baking cakes and more. Our boys love all of the different animals in this book and the pictures are joyful and beautiful.

•  I Saw Santa In… by JD Green, Illustrated by Nadja Sarell and Srimalie Bassani

My mom gifted I Saw Santa in Florida to the boys a few years ago and as kids who love “seek and find” stories, this book keeps them engaged through a cute storyline and pictures that have them searching for Mrs. Claus, Santa and a reindeer on every page. We have the Florida version so it calls out cities and places specific to Florida, but numerous versions of these books exist for different states in the United States making them a unique book to read and also a fun gift idea!

• Little Blue Truck’s Christmas by Alice Schertle, Illustrated by Jill McElmurry

You can’t go wrong with any of the Little Blue Truck books and Little Blue Truck’s Christmas is no exception. Little Blue Truck is in charge of delivering Christmas trees of various shapes and sizes to his animal friends. The story also works on counting and concludes with a light-up Christmas tree that blinks and mesmerizes little ones.

• Pick a Pine Tree by Patricia Toht, Illustrated by Jarvis

Pick a Pine Tree is one of those books that looks beautiful on the outside and is pretty enough to leave on a coffee table to pick up to read with the kiddos at any point during the holiday season! It features fun rhymes and gorgeous illustrations of a wonderfully diverse assortment of families and children who spend time together, selecting and decorating the perfect Christmas tree.

• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

This book is a classic for a reason. It perfectly captures the magic of freshly fallen snow and follows a little boy during his first encounters with the snow. We love this book right before bed because something about the way it is written feels calming and a little bit magical. What’s not to love about a snow day!?

*Not Christmas-themed

• Christmas in the Manger by Nola Buck, Illustrated by Felicia Bond

Christmas in the Manger is the perfect way to introduce the story of the meaning behind Christmas to little ones. It captures Jesus’ birth in a way that feels special and age-appropriate and was one of the first books about the meaning of Christmas our boys really enjoyed.

• The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

The Polar Express is a classic story absolutely lives up to the hype. The book is filled with the most gorgeous illustrations and our boys prefer the book 10,000x over the movie. It’s a wonderful story about believing in Christmas magic as a boy embarks on a train ride to the North Pole during a crucial year in his life.

• Jack Frost vs. The Abominable Snowman by Chris Manning

If you ask our big kids (ages 9 and 6) which books from our wintery book collection they like most, they will undoubtedly include Jack Frost vs. The Abominable Snowman. It’s a “choose your own adventure” type story that the boys inevitably want to read cover-to-cover because they love both paths of the story so much.

*Not Christmas-themed

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

The Grinch will forever be one of my personal favorites! I’m such a sucker for Dr. Seuss’ rhyming style and adore this classic Christmas story. It’s a playfully heartwarming story about a grumpy Grinch who learns to embrace Christmas after detesting the holiday for years. After reading this book, be sure to check out the 2018 animated movie version of the book. It’s one of our family’s favorites and perfect for all ages (aka it’s not spooky at all)!

• How to Catch a Snowman + How to Catch an Elf by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton 

Our boys adore any book from the “How to Catch a…” series. They playfully document children’s attempts at catching magical creatures through silly rhymes and creative traps.

*How to Catch a Snowman is not Christmas-themed

• Click, Clack, Ho! Ho! Ho! by Doreen Cronin, Illustrated by Betsy Lewin

Perfect for young listeners, Click, Clack, Ho! Ho! Ho! is a story about a silly duck who gets stuck in a chimney on Christmas Eve. A bunch of barnyard animals work together to try to “unstuck duck” and everyone gets stuck until Santa arrives and saves the day.

• The Christmas Owl by Gideon Sterer and Ellen Kalish, Illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki 

The Christmas Owl is a book I bought for our boys because they are animal lovers through and through and especially fascinated by birds of prey. It’s based on the true story of a tiny screech owl whose home was cut down when her tree was selected to be the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York City. The pictures in this book are beautiful. Our older boys especially liked reading the information about the real story of the little owl in the back of the book. 

Question of the Day

What are some favorite holiday books in your house?