Readers, we are thankful for YOU!
And, in honor of our appreciation for you, your faithful support of Redeemed Reader and encouragement to us, we’re posting a first for Redeemed Reader: a READER-generated* Christmas Books Booklist for your enjoyment over the holidays. After all, our readers have great taste and often recommend terrific books to us.
We hope you’ll find some new books to add into your usual mix as you enjoy time with your family and friends during the coming Christmas season. We hope, by posting this list now, you will have time to track these down in time for this year’s Christmas season! Don’t forget, though, to include the Book: read the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s birth, too.
See also our Giant Advent & Christmas Book List: Books for All Ages for more Christmas books!
**Disclaimer: We are not vouching for titles listed below that we have not already reviewed. Please check reviews on your trusted sources, check these out from the library for pre-reading, etc., before making your decisions about what to enjoy with your families and classrooms.
Christmas Books for All Ages
Note: titles are linked to amazon instead of Redeemed Reader. If we have reviewed the title, there is also a link to the “RR Review” or “RR Booklist” at the end of the listing. Please read reviews, particularly for those titles not already reviewed on Redeemed Reader! We are participants in the Amazon LLC affiliate program; qualifying purchases you make through affiliate links like the ones below may earn us a commission
Picture Books
- The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden and illustrated by Barbara Cooney
- The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston and illustrated by Barbara Cooney (RR Review)
- The Christmas Promise by Alison Mitchell and illustrated by Catalina Echeverri (RR Review)
- The Littlest Watchman: Watching and Waiting for the Very First Christmas by Scott James and illustrated by Geraldine Rodriguez
- The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski and illustrated by P. J. Lynch (included on several RR lists, such as the “Giant Advent and Christmas Book List“)
- An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco
- Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Jason Cockcroft
- Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clark Moore and illustrated by Jessie Wilcox Smith
- the Texas Twas the Night Before Christmas by James Rice (note: Rice has others in this series, such as the Cajun Night Before Christmas)
- Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story by Cynthia Rylant
- St. Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend by Julie Steigemeyer
- Song of the Stars by Sally Lloyd-Jones
- Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry
- Jan Brett’s Christmas Treasury (note: you can find these in individual versions in your local libraries!)
- Apple Tree Christmas by Trinka Hakes Noble
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
Chapter Books/Novels
- Jotham’s Journey, Tabitha’s Travels, and Bartholomew’s Passage by Arnold Ytreeide (RR Review; scroll down)
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson (RR Review)
- Keeping Holiday by Starr Mead
- Treasures of the Snow by Patricia M. St. John
- The Nutcracker illustrated by Maurice Sendak (RR Review)
- Christmas in Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren
- The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder (middle grades and up)
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
- The Birds’ Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin
- The True Gift by Patricia MacLachlan and illustrated by Brian Floca
Short Stories
- In the Dark Streets Shineth: a 1941 Christmas Eve Story by David McCullough (short story)
- Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien
- The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
- A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
- Norman Rockwell’s Christmas Book
- Louisa May Alcott’s Christmas Treasury by Louisa May Alcott
Devotionals
- Unwrapping the Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp (younger kids) (RR Review)
- The Star From Afar
- Christmas: The Whole Story of the God Who Loves by Natasha Metzler
- Advent Cards from She Reads Truth
- The Advent Jesse Tree by Dean Lambert Smith
- The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones (younger and middle grade kids)
- Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus by Nancy Guthrie (adults)
- Don’t miss our recent Family Advent Devotionals List!
*These all came from a recent giveaway we did on Instagram. What resources would YOU add to this fantastic list?
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I have such a huge stack of Christmas picture books that I’ve collected over the past 30 years. My youngest is now 12, and while she will still read through some of them each year, I so miss sitting and reading them aloud to the kids. I encourage mamas to collect these books and share them with their children. Such precious times that will fly by much more quickly than you could ever imagine! “The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree” and “The Story of Holly and Ivy” are two of my favorites! Another one I discovered more recently is “When Mother Was Eleven-Foot Four”. I tend toward tear-jerkers…:)
I’m still at the stage where I wrap all our Christmas books for December 1st and we read and enjoy them all month long. Our kids are getting older so we’ll hang on to the tradition as long as we can! Two of our favorites are ‘Christmas Day in the Morning’ by Pearl Buck and ‘A Star for Christmas’ by Trisha Romance. Thanks for compiling this list! I see a few more that we can add to our collection.
Looking for a short, warmhearted story – try The Christmas Gift
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017J93A7O
[…] Source: Christmas Books for All Ages: A Booklist – Redeemed Reader […]
New Christmas Books that are trending for this season : https://goo.gl/mgZSZ4
I have been reading Hidden Christmas by Tim Keller to my children, who are ages 10 and up. So far (three chapters into it), it has helped us all to be stirred afresh by the meaning of Christmas. Given my experience with Tim Keller’s writing/preaching, I am optimistic that it will continue to be a blessing to us as we set aside time each day to ponder the beauty of the Light appearing in the darkness.
Thanks for a great suggestion, Cheryl!
I did not see One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham on the list. I have always loved that story.
Good suggestion, Barbara! We’ll have to include that on a future list. Emily Whitten reviewed it during our first year, here: https://redeemedreader.com/2011/03/easter-gifts-101-bible-stories-and-the-story-of-the-bible/.
For the last several years expect during covid, I read a Christmas picture book to the women at our church’s women Christmas brunch.
In addition to the list above, I’d like to suggest the following:
Winter’s gift by Jane Monroe Donovan
Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo
Both show God’s light shining in the darkness of the brokenness of our world.
Another favorite is “The Tale of Three Trees” retold by Angela Elwell Hunt.
“Owl Moon” although not specifically Christmas, is a beautiful winter’s tale of a daughter and father walking in the wintry woods.
Thank you for those suggestions!