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Kids Christmas Books by Various Authors and Illustrators
Santa Calls,
c.1993; The Others, c.2017
Various Prices and Page Counts
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
You’d better watch out. You’d better not cry.
Your child knows exactly what comes next, you can bet on it.
You can also bet that he’s not about to take anything
Santa-related lightly, so why not bring Santa home in a book
this holiday season? Try one of these new stories, meant
exactly for kids who love read-aloud time:
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The little one who needs speed and craves All Things
Automotive will want you to find The 12 Sleighs of
Christmas by Sherry Duskey Rinker, illustrated by Jake
Parker again and again. It’s the tale of a (gulp!)
busted-up sleigh, discovered to be in bad shape with just
days to go before the Big Guy takes off. So maybe it’s time
for an upgrade up North? The results will have your
three-to-seven-year-old motorhead revving his engine for the
holidays...
Kids generally see Santa in a serious vein, but for the
child who likes her holiday with a dose of humor,
Missile Toe: A Very Confused Christmas by Devin Scillian,
illustrated by Marty Kelley is a great book to have
around this season. Through silly poems and pictures, your
child will get a chance to laugh at Christmas carol parodies
and beloved holiday must-haves. No, it’s not disrespectful –
it’s hilarious, and elementary-school kids will eat it up.
For slightly older kids (ages eight-to-12, perhaps) who can
sit still for a bit longer and who can appreciate beautiful
artwork, Santa Calls by William Joyce will
become an instant classic.
Originally published more than twenty years ago but
reintroduced now, this is an interactive book about a young
boy who gets a call from the North Pole. Who wouldn’t
take Santa up on an invitation to the workshop? And so Art
Atchinson Aimesworth, his sister, and his best friend head
north on an adventure that takes them – and your child –
through a fantasy like no other, past guards, “Dark Elves,”
and fanciful things that few kids ever get to see. Set at
the turn of the last century, this book has an old feel that
new audiences will absolutely love.
And finally, there’s no better Christmas Eve bedtime book to
read aloud than Good Night, Reindeer by Denise
Brennan-Nelson, illustrated by Marco Bucci. With quiet
nighttime pictures in lush twilight colors and sparse, spare
words that signify bedtime, this book will make any little
one as sleepy as possible the night before the Big Morning.
Here, Santa bids “Good Night” to each of his reindeer, as
well as to the things in the workshop, thus making sure
everyone gets a good nights’ sleep (including your little
one). As the tale progresses, your 2-to-6-year-old will get
a charming peek into the personalities of eight tiny
sleigh-engines, which is adorable, and which sets the tone
perfectly.
If these books don’t quite fill the bill for your holiday,
then ho-ho-hook up with your local bookseller or librarian.
There are lots and lots of books for children of every age,
every faith, and every holiday.
As for these four, above, watch out for them. |
