Christmas Books: Classics New and Old
With the holidays being the perfect time to wind down from the busy hustle of the season and snuggle up with a book - alone or with the family - consider revisiting some of the old classics (or discovering them for the first time!). One of the great things about the classics is that you can almost always pair them with a film, play, musical, or some other production. For example, you can pair The Polar Express with a children’s production or with its movie. You can connect E.T.A. Hoffman’s The Nutcracker with a ballet (not to mention, there are a variety of children’s books that tell the story of The Nutcracker and the recent film release of Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms). In addition to those mentioned here, other Christmas classics for the littles, tweens, teens, and adults include: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss, The Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies (this is a great option for those tweens who need to be reminded about the magic of Christmas), and Abbott’s Peace on Earth, Good-Will to Dogs. If you are too busy running around and preparing for the upcoming holidays to actually read one of these books, they always make great gifts—truly, you cannot go wrong with a classic Christmas book as a gift.As for some of the newer Christmas books, one of the newest that I’m particularly excited about is Construction Site on Christmas Night because Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site—the first in this series, has been a long-time favorite of all three of my kiddos. Other new ones for younger kids include Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas which you might pair with Clement C. Moore’s classic, The Night Before Christmas. Don’t forget to look for Christmas themes in your favorite children’s series, too—Pinkalicious, Fancy Nancy, Little Critters, Bernstein Bears, etc.—they all offer Christmas and holiday-related books. Finally, if you made the mistake of introducing one of those despicable elf on the shelf terrorists (as I so affectionately refer to them) into your family, there are a variety of elf on the shelf books in addition to the original that are available for the younger kids. For older readers, there are quite a few new Christmas books to choose from. I personally just finished Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling for Christmas and give it two thumbs up—this one is great for teens and adults. I also have Donna VanLiere’s The Christmas Town and Debbie Mason’s The Trouble with Christmas, the latter of which is now a Hallmark movie (read: you can’t go wrong with it if it is a Hallmark movie). New York Times bestselling author, Richard P. Evans’ The Mistletoe Collection, includes three Christmas-themed books, some of which are also now Hallmark movies.
In short, there are many great Christmas books to choose from out there. I struggled to narrow down my list, so if you are not seeing anything that catches your eye, do not be disappointed; jump online and search for some Christmas books. You will find that the options are plentiful both for the classics and the new.
about the author...Ashlynn is wife, mom of three littles, and Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Rocky Mountain College. She is an introvert who is uncharacteristically social and loves family, learning, travel, animals, and all things Montana.