The Best Children’s Books for Christmas

One of the best things about having kids is the children’s books.  I am a huge fan! What started out as one shelf in our front room for children’s books quickly turned into three shelves and a bookcase upstairs!

I find it really hard to persuade Father Christmas not to buy more books becuase he loves them as much as I do! Today, I am going to share the books that I enjoy sharing with my son, the most, at Christmas time.

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margarey Williams

Be warned that this famous beloved tale isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. At the end the boy has to get rid of his rabbit but because he loved it so much, it becomes real.

The Snowman And The Snowdog (pop up & light up book)

This beloved tale about a boys Snowman coming to life and taking him on adventure is available in lots of formats but the pop up and light up book is a real treasure.  There is something facinating about pages that jump off the page but at the end of this book, the stars twinkle due to a built in sensor and built in tiny lights

 

The Jolly Christmas Postman by Janet Ahlberg

All the Jolly Postman books are amazing.  Children love the little envolpes (from and to fairy tale characters) and finding out what is inside.  The letters sometimes contain a gift like a puzzle or a comic.  This book makes a lovely gift (thank you aunty Heather) and the snowy variation of this book is great to share over the winter months.

Stickman by Julia Donaldson

I don’t own this book, we borrowed it from the library.  Borrowing books is a great way to discover new books for free.  Stickman is about a stick that gets seperated from his family.  He ends up on a dangerous adventure as he tries to get home to his family.  On his adventure he helps Santa who in return helps him get home.

Another, wintery tale by Julia Donaldson is The Gruffalo’s Child.  The sequel to the popular Gruffalo.  The brave Gruffalo Child sneaks out of the cave on a dark snowy night to find the Big Bad Mouse.  Once again, the quick witted mouse out smarts this little Gruffalo.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr Seuss

My son absolutley loved the Grinch.  This descpicable character feelings towards Christmas is quoted as “hate, hate, double hate, loathe entirely”.  His hate for Christmas is very entertaining and when he says “Poo poo to the whos” my son laughs and makes me read that line over and over again.  Don’t worry, in the end, the Grinch learns that there is more to Christmas than giving gifts.

My Rhyme Time Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

This is an all year favourite for bedtime but when I was asking my son to help me pick the books for this post, he inisited on this one as he like the twinkle star nursery rhyme and at Christmas time we change the words to “Twinke twinkle Christmas star”.  The book is filled with traditional nursery rhymes and illustrated beautifully by Miles Kelly.

The Christmas Show by Rebecca Patterson

This book was a gift from my son’s nursery.  He isn’t the easiest kid to keep in line so I am not sure if this book was chosen especially for him in mind or just a lucky chance that he got it.  It is all about the children preparing for the nativity play, the main little boy doesn’t really pay attention and on the big day he gets it all wrong but his performance is still loved by his family and he is told to ignore the mean words of the head angel.  

Thank you for reading

Are any of the above your favourites?  Can you recommend any more that I should add to my collection?

If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy:

My top 5 Pop Up Books

Happy Roald Dahl Month – My Childhood Memories of his books

Learning through art with Arty Mouse

If you love the Gruffalo, you may enjoy my review of Good Bubble, The Gruffalo skincare range.

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Jolly World Book Day

What is World Book Day?

It is a day to encourage children’s reading. Events are held across the UK to encourage children to talk about books such as dressing up as their favourite character. Many kids receive a voucher to get a sponsored book for £1 or £1 off a book of their choice.

Many publishers and other sponsors will host competitions so it is worth checking social media. Last year, I won the box set of “Percy Jackson” by Rick Riordan from Write Children’s Books For Children who ran hourly competitions on Twitter!

The Jolly Postman

This year, my son has chosen to be “The Jolly Postman” by Janet & Allan Ahlberg. He loves the books which are interactive and every other page is an envelope with a letter inside (or card, puzzle or mini book, etc). Plus, he has a red bike – very cool to a 4-year-old!

He has:

  • The Jolly Postman (blue version)
  • The Jolly Christmas Postman (red version)

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfxg4DYBSMQ/?hl=en&taken-by=redfae

Both books were bought by Noah’s aunty Hev (you can follow her blog “This Pug Can” by clicking here). No prizes for guessing which was for his birthday and which was for Christmas.

After role play in his (Postman Pat) costume as the Jolly Postman, we got warm inside with blankets, wotsits and the books themselves.  Usually, we read these at bedtime but today we had time to do the puzzle and play the board game.

I also feel I need to say a big thank you to Asda.  The costume sold out online.  Other stores had a similar one for an extra £10 and someone was selling Asda’s costume on Amazon for twice the price!  Asda tweeted back to help track down a costume for Noah.  In the store, staff retrieved it from the warehouse and Noah changed his mind!  He now wanted to be a lion from “How to Hide a Lion!” by Helen Stephens.  We began leaving the store and he changed his mind again and did want to be the Jolly Postman.  The staff returned to the warehouse to get it again.  They were so helpful and friendly and didn’t complain once about the interchangeable mind of a preschool diva.

Have a jolly World Book Day

I hope you have a jolly world book day and I would love to hear about what books you have been enjoying or the characters your child dressed up as today.

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