No More Polar Express! And don't even mention The Night Before Christmas!
Categories: Parenting & Families , Children's Books
With Christmas right around the corner, you may be getting a bit tired of reading The Polar Express and The Night Before Christmas for the 1,637,461st time. Fear not! There are tons of great Christmas titles out there (new and old!) to share with the young person in your life. Today, we’ll focus on new 2007 titles and next week we’ll revisit some golden oldies.
Toddlers
Merry Christmas, Cheeps! by Julie Stiegemeyer is a rhyming story starring a family of cuddly terry cloth chicks with knit caps and scarves. They play in the snow, sing, make cookies, decorate the tree, and hang up their stockings. It’s sweet good natured fun for the smallest Christmas lovers.
Santa is missing in Lisa Wheeler’s Where, Oh Where, is Santa Claus and a variety of Arctic animals set out to find him. The simple language, rhyming text, and endearing illustrations are sure to inspire repeat readings.
Minerva Louise mistakes Christmas Eve preparations for a party, Santa for a farmer, and the reindeer for goats wearing fancy hats in Minerva Louise on Christmas Eve by Janet Morgan Stoeke. Can the confusion be cleared up in time for Christmas?
A Very Merry Christmas by Geoffrey Hayes stars Bella, a little mouse, who helps her family get ready for Christmas, continually asking when Santa will come. The answer is always “soon”–until finally it’s Christmas Eve and Santa is on his way.
Ages 5-8
On Christmas morning, Trevor discovers that the one thing he wanted most–a puppy–is the one thing he forgot to ask for in Gregg Spiridellis’s The Longest Christmas List Ever. Trevor spends the entire next year making endless lists of all the Christmas presents he wants, until the cartons filled with his notepads stretch all the way from his house to the post office. Can he trim his list and get it to the North Pole in time?
Small Camel Follows the Star by Rachel Brown Small is the story of Small Camel, the youngest in Balthazar’s corral as he joins his first caravan. Balthazar has set aside a light, little bundle for Small Camel: one special package. The caravan joins with two more men and continues on, following a single star over the desert. At last, the caravan stops in a town, and Small Camel discovers what he has been carrying—presents for the baby Jesus.
Rob Scotton’s Russell’s Christmas Magic is the fourth book in the Russell series and his first Christmas adventure. After witnessing Santa's spectacular Christmas Eve sleigh crash, the woolly wonder snaps into action to save the holiday and get the man of the hour—and a clever new mode of toy transport—back in flight.
Cincinnati native Will Hillenbrand’s latest, Cock-A-Doodle Christmas is the story of a scrawny young rooster named Harold, who has to taken over the morning wake-up duties despite his timid voice. He is unsuccessful at crowing and waking the other animals, so the routine of the farm is upset and the animals are cranky. When the baby Jesus is born in the stable on the farm, Harold hears about the Good News from a shepherd. After meeting the Christ Child himself, the little rooster finds his own voice at last and feels empowered to develop his own loud announcement to the world about the news from the stable.
Best friends Toot and Puddle struggle with what to get each other for Christmas in Holly Hobbie’s Let it Snow. They know that "the best present was usually something you made yourself, a one-of-a-kind thingamajig, not just a whatsit anyone could buy in a store." Will they think of something in time for Christmas?
All ages (including parents!)
Lemony Snicket, author of the Series of Unfortunate Events, latest title is a Christmas/Hanukah title The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming : A Christmas Story in which a Latke tries to explain his role in Hanukah to a candy cane and colored Christmas lights. If you enjoy Snicket’s dry wit and humor, you’ll love this one as well.
Olivia the Pig is beloved by fans young and old. In her second Christmas adventure, Olivia Helps with Christmas by Ian Falconer this irrepressible piglet is getting ready for the holidays, and her fans know that means trouble. Olivia stuffs her baby brother full of blueberry pie, gets tangled in the lights and sets the table for dinner. She even finds the perfect centerpiece (by chopping off the top of the Christmas tree).
First there was Judy and then there was Stink and now . . . they are together in their own book, Judy Moody & Stink: The Holly Joliday. All Stink wants for Christmas is snow. Judy, armed with her knowledge of Virginia weather patterns and the effects of global warming, tries to get Stink to ask for something reasonable. The arrival of a white-bearded, overweight letter carrier named Jack (Frost) gives Stink the extra amount of hope he needs. Will it be a white Christmas?
