If you’re looking for a few new classic titles to add to your Christmas library here are 50 Fabulous Christmas Books for Kids. These books are some of our all-time favorites!
A favorite holiday tradition in our family is our annual Christmas book countdown. Every year at the end of November I wrap up 25 of our most loved Christmas books. The kids take turns opening one each day in December leading up to Christmas. We have many fond memories of snuggling up on the couch together to read the days book by the light of the Christmas tree.
Each year I go in search of one or two darling books to add to our ever growing collection of Christmas favourites. I’m picky about what titles I pack away with the holiday decor at the end of each year, so I am slow and deliberate about the books I choose to purchase. We first borrow them from the library to test them out or follow up on recommendations from friends by browsing at the book store.
For the past few weeks I’ve been researching children’s Christmas books online and borrowing them by the bag full from the library! Below you’ll find our list of 50 fabulous children’s books to read this Christmas. They include some of our current favs, ones we plan to read soon and ones I can’t wait to purchase for the kids!
Enjoy our list and if you have any more titles to add I’d love for you to share them in the comments! Scroll down to the bottom of this post for a printable list of all 50 titles.
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| You can download a printable list here of all 50 Christmas books to tuck in your purse for the next time you’re at the library or local bookstore! I hope you have as much fun exploring this list as I had putting it together!
Does your family have a favourite Christmas book that’s missing from this list? Be sure to leave a comment and tell us what it is!
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Rebecca Cooper is a 42-year-old wife and mother of four from Alberta, Canada. As a photographer, crafter, author, and blogger, she finds joy and fulfillment in celebrating everyday moments. She loves to read and eat chocolate, and is a firm believer in afternoon naps. Rebecca shares her family’s adventures, photo tips, simple craft projects + more right here at Simple as That.
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So many Christmas books! I want to start a collection too, thanks for your list 🙂
What a great list ! We are looking to add more to our little ones library ! Thank you for all of these suggestions !
We love Santa mouse and the sweet smell of Christmas.
Thank you for these great suggestions ! We are always looking to add more to our library. We love Santa Mouse and The Sweet Smell of Christmas!
I might have to come by after Christmas and check out some of your! I have a few of the same ones. But I still have some I want to replace, or some that the kids are getting too old for. This year we got Pete the Cat Christmas, and Bad Kitty Christmas for some fun ones. And then I ordered from amazon, but don’t have them yet, the Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher, Jill Williams said it was her husbands (and his families) favorite book growing up. And I ordered The Crippled Lamb and One Wintry night on recommendation from someone else. Hope they are all good! I can’t even think of some of my favorites that we have, but thanks for the reminder that I need to get the box out and wrap them up!
A few of our favorites include… The Pine Tree Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs, The Small One by Alex Walsh and Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson (from the Bear Snores On books). These are awesome, you will love them!
My favorite that I don’t see on your list is Bear Stays Up For Christmas. I can’t think of the author but it’s by the same woman that wrote Bear Snores On and several others. I love it.
Great list! I love all the different books and reading them with the kids.
Small One is one of our absolute favorites! It’s a story about the little donkey who carries Mary to Bethlehem Disney actually made a little cartoon of it that we have to watch every year too. A wonderful story to read & remember the true meaning of Christmas. So sweet!
I was totally planning on making a list of ours too 🙂 I just found a couple new great ones this year!!! I’ll put all ours up this week too!
This is the best list of children’s Christmas books I have ever seen. So many of our favorites here.
What a nice list you’ve compiled!
Any of Jan Brett’s Christmas/Winter stories are fantastic and her artwork is gorgeous. I always loved these growing up. Oh, Madeline’s Christmas is a lovely book too. There are just so many sweet Christmas books for children.
Thank you for posting these. We have some of these books, but we are always on the lookout for new books to read! 🙂
Great list! We borrow lots of books from the library at Christmas. I love Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree and The Animals’ Christmas Eve.
We love Olive the Other Reindeer, Santa Calls is one I love, and there are 2 Auntie Clause books we also love.
I picked up Mortimer’s Christmas Manger a few days ago. I think my girls are going to love it. I also bought Bad Kitty Christmas. Thanks for posting this great list. I’d love to repost on my blog for my readers.
Good idea to borrow books first before purchasing them. We have at least one book at home that our J is not quite ready for, and maybe I don’t like that much either ;). This is a very comprehensive list! Tks for sharing!
This is just the best list Rebecca! We surely need to add to ours… We have great taste though, a lot of the same books! Lol)
We just bought Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo. It is a simple but stunning Christmas story.
Santa Mouse is my favorite! I am 40 years old and I still have my copy from when I was a kid.
Thanks for posting such a great list! One book that our family loves at Christmas is ‘The Last Straw’ about a camel bringing gifts to the baby Jesus. Merry Christmas! Karen
What a great list – thank you! I like the Little Matchgirl but my kids think it’s too sad 🙁
I pinned this for future use. We have some of these but as my kids get older I just will have some more to add!
Please come share at my link party!
http://www.shecookscraftsruns.net/2012/11/show-me-what-youve-made-up-link-party-5.html
What a wonderful list! Thank you!
Great list, we love Christmas Magic at our house! 🙂
Thank you so much. I love your book posts!
Thanks for the wonderful list. We wrap books up and read one each day, same as you. One of our favourites that we love is Santasaurus. Check it out, its cute.
Christmas Trolls by Jan Brett (I think the kids look like your blondes and the pictures are darling)
Dinosaur Christmas by Jerry Pallotta (before reindeer Santa used dinosaurs, from Scholastic)
Small Camel Follows the Star by Rachel Brown (about the camel that carries the gifts of the wise men to Jesus)
Already mentioned include Olive the Other Reindeer and Small One
Thanks for the list and I love your blog! I’ve been following for awhile but this is my first comment
What a great list… my Dad always reads The Night Before Christmas before we go to bed on Christmas Eve.
And by always, I mean ALWAYS! Even Christmases when I haven’t been staying with him, he reads it over the phone to me and now my children.
You’ve certainly got an exhaustive and excellent list here. I highlighted 4 of my favorites in a blog post today and included “This is the Stable” in mine. I would highly recommend the book, “The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey” by Susan Wojciechowski. It conveys the true meaning of the season in a way that is both spiritual and sensitive.
Wombat Divine by Mem Fox… A little Aussie Christmas treasure. X
Love Love Love the list, have printed and will start our collection!
What a Lovely idea.
We have many of Christmas books or short stories that we read thru out the holidays but one of our favorites is A Special Place for Santa. I searched everywhere last year to find it since we had given our copy away. I found it at Wal-Mart there is also an ornament that you can buy that goes with it we purchased that at hobby lobby. Fun to read the book and then place the ornament on the tree.
As a first grade teacher for 36 years, The Mole Family Christmas always made me cry.
We have this tradition, too. I love it!!! You’re missing my favorite: The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.
Curious Georges’ Christmas Carols, Ezra Jack Keats “Little Drummer Boy”, The Christmas Wish (just so sweet and beautiful!)
Thank you so much! This will be a perfect and meaningful activity for our family!
we have the same tradition and I love your list of ideas! Humphrey’s First Christmas and The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher are two of our favorites!
Our family loves: Santa’s Favorite Story by Hisako Aoki, Christmas by Jan Pienkowski (beautiful illustrations) and The Christmas Star by Marcus Pfister.
Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood and Deck the Hall by Sylvia Long!
We have always enjoyed ‘A Snoman Named Just Bob’, ‘A Snowgirl Named Just Sue, ‘The Littlest Christmas Tree’, ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’, ‘A Christmas Story’, & some of the ones off of your list. ‘Santa Mouse’, ‘How the Grinch Stoll Christmas’, ‘The Night Before Christmas’ & ‘The Polar Express’ are staples every year. We also have holiday movie traditions.
Several years ago I was standing in the bookstore looking for a new Christmas book for our family. A woman came up to me and pressed a book into my hands and said, “get this one! You’ll love it!” It was “A Small Miracle” by Peter Collington. It’s a modern story that is wordless and slightly odd. But years later it is, by far, my family’s favorite Christmas book. I can still not make it to the end without crying. Very, very highly recommended!
Thank you so much for sharing this one Hildie! I’ve added it to our library request list. Can’t wait to read it. 🙂
A lot of our favorites here! My collection has gotten a little crazy lately with so many books! We also love Olive the Other Reindeer and the Gingerbread Girl and Gingerbread Boy