NEW CHRISTMAS BOOK FAVOURITES FOR YOUR KIDS

Christmas board books for your kidsI was trying to recall my favourite Christmas books from my childhood, and you know what, I couldn’t really remember any physical books that I might of had and loved.  I loved many of the Christmas shows of course and can recall them fondly but books I can not.  I know partly it is that books were not sold like they are today when I was young.  The books I read were gotten from the library.  My first memory of buying books was when I was a preteen I was buying one of those Sweet Valley High Series books.  But Christmas picture books as a child, well, I don’t have those memories but I know my kids will.  I’m going to introduce you today to some new board books and picture books to add to a Christmas collection.

*Disclosure: These books were provided to me from Raincoast books for the purpose of reviewing them.  As always  the opinions are my own, or those of my children.  I only share books that I enjoyed, my children enjoy or that I feel are a good fit for my readers.

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NEW CHRISTMAS BOOK FAVOURITES FOR YOUR KIDS

First I have 2 new board books to share with you.

Cozy Classics E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker by Jack and Holman Wang

Jack and Holman are the creators of many loved needle-felted scene books.  The Nutcracker is a part of a collection of classics that also features Great Expectations, Les Miserables, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  Each book is comprised of 12 needle-felted scenes that is accompanied by one word.  Check out more at www.mycozyclassics.com

My thoughts and my daughter’s:

At first, I wasn’t sure my daughter would enjoy this book but I was wrong.  As an adult, I could appreciate the detail and artistry that comprises each page and I know the story.  However, she enjoyed the book because of the simplicity of the text. She is just beginning to learn to read and only having one word to accompany each scene made it easier for her to remember to read and then read back to herself.  And of course afterward, I would hear her adding more words to the story as she made it her own.  My daughter’s favourite page was, of course, the ballerina dancing.

My Christmas Star made by Aimee Chapman, Penny Worms, and Amy Oliver and illustrated by Lucy Fleming.

The publisher is Priddy Books

A little girl wishes upon a sparkly star on Christmas night and we are taken on her little adventure of what she would wish for upon the star.  As you turn the page the cut out of the star gets smaller and smaller until the final page where the sparkly star is atop the Christmas tree.

My thoughts and my daughter’s:

I enjoyed reading this more as it has a pleasant rhyming text and bright, colourful illustrations.  My daughter liked it too as she thought the little kids and the animals were ‘really cute’.

On to a few new picture books to enjoy

How to Catch an Elf picture book

There is a new elf for your kids to love.  Its ok there is no doll to buy.  How to Catch an Elf by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton.

The little Christmas Elf in this story takes us through his night with Santa trying to avoid all the traps the kids have put in place to catch him.  And these are no ordinary traps.  We have double-sided adhesive tape, tinsel net, and even an Elf Snatcher 3000.  When Santa and the elf make to the end of the night, what do you think they will be eating?  Pizza!

My thoughts and my kids:

Not another elf book but this one is fun and humorous.  There is even a mention of another well know elf who sits on a shelf.  The illustrations are clean, bright and colourful.  My kids favourite page is below.  You can probably figure out why.  And of course, we had a whole new wave of excitement of the types of traps they would create to catch an elf.

Page from How to Catch an Elf

And the last one today is Presents Through the Window: A Taro Gomi Christmas Book  

Presents Through the Window: A Taro Gomi Christmas book

Taro Gomi is a well known Japanese children book author and illustrator with over 400 titles.  I was most familiar with the book Everyone Poops.  In this Christmas story, Santa arrives via helicopter and begins delivering gifts in a hurry through windows. There is an actual cut out window which looks into a house. But, what Santa sees through the window from the outside is not exactly what is inside. It appears that Santa is leaving the wrong gifts for the wrong animals and kids. Even though they all receive the wrong gifts they share them with each other and love their presents anyways.

My thoughts and my kids:

I like to introduce to my children to different illustrators and writers from around the world.  Currently all of my children still believe in Santa Claus, and a Santa that delivers gifts via sleigh and reindeer and goes down the chimney.  This book opened up a lot of questions especially from my older boys.  In this story Santa arrives in a helicopter and walks house to house and for me and for them just didn’t really look like the Santa they are familiar with.  Once I showed them more work by the illustrator they were ok with the Santa.  We were able just to enjoy the story he had created.  My daughter loved that this Santa kept mixing up the gifts.  And the message at the end was nice that it doesn’t matter what you get you should appreciate all gifts and sharing gifts is the right thing to do.

This book taught me I need to expose my kids and myself still to more diverse books.  I had a hard time explaining that the child on this page although says he is lucky to have received 2 gifts, my kids and I still felt that he looked angry or upset.

Page from Presents Through the Window

New Christmas book favourites for your kids

So there you have it some new Christmas book favourites for your kids.  Do you have any new titles that your children have enjoyed?  I would love to hear about your kids favourite Christmas books leave a comment or try to catch me on my next Facebook Live Broadcast where we sit, sip and chat books.

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Cheers,

Bonnie in Gold glitter

Bonnie Dani

Educator, Writer, Blogger, Mom

Contact Me: [email protected]