Gladys Hunt on Christmas Books

Editor’s Note: Is reading aloud beside the Christmas tree one of your family’s holiday traditions? If so, you’ll want to copy & paste this list of excellent Christmas-themed books from a lady who would know.

Christmas Joy!

Originally published on the Tumblon website December 11, 2009 under the title “Christmas Stories”

I am a northerner. I love Christmas, snow, window candles, bells, Christmas carols, a fire in the fireplace and good conversation with people sitting around our table. Just after Thanksgiving I will put out my collection of children’s Christmas books and scatter them around the house, hoping to entice others to re-read some of these wonderful stories. I’ve been collecting them for years, so I’ll share only a partial list.

Two new ones purchased this year are small with Christmas red covers. Patricia MacLachlan (Newbery winner for Sarah, Plain and Tall) has a 2009 short story A True Gift, illustrated by Brian Floca that will warm the heart. Lily and Liam, driven by their parents to their grandparent’s farm, are excited about their annual visit to help their grandparents get ready for Christmas. They are armed with bags of books, and expectations of decorating the house, buying presents and visiting the local library. In the barnyard, usually home to several animals, only White Cow greets them. When they hear the story of what has happened to the other animals, Lily notices that Liam becomes silent and begins to worry about whether White Cow is lonely—and worse still, lonely at Christmas time. Liam posts a notice around town:

Wanted: a cow friend for a lonely, sad cow.

 It is Christmas and she needs a friend.

Think how you’d feel. I’m buying. Call Liam at….

You can imagine the delight of what happens!

The second book is a reprint of a 1969 book by English writer Elizabeth Goudge, called I Saw Three Ships. The story has Goudge’s magical touch, which has endeared her to readers in past years. Polly Flowerdew lives with two maiden aunts and is absolutely sure something special is going to happen this Christmas. On Christmas Eve she leaves her bedroom window open just in case the three wise men decide to visit, as the song predicts. When she wakes up on Christmas morning, the words of the song have come to life in most unexpected ways. The story is pure Elizabeth Goudge and really quite magical.

Here are some other titles (not in any particular order):

• Christmas in the Country by Cynthia Rylant and Diane Goode:
• Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck, il. By Mark Buehner
• Christmas Tapestry by Patricia Polacco
• An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco
• The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston, il.by Barbara Cooney
• The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski, il. By P.H. Lynch
• When Washington Crossed the Delaware by Lynne Cheney, paintings by Peter M. Fiore
• A Child is Born by Margaret Wise Brown, il Floyd Cooper
• A Certain Small Shepherd by Rebecca Caudhill
• The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado, il Liz Bonham
• Elijah’s Angel by Michael J. Rosen, il. by A. Robinson (Based on a true story of an African-American barber who befriends a small Jewish boy and they share the meaning of Christmas and Chanukah.)
• A Christmas Story by Brian Wildsmith

For older readers:

• Christmas on Jane Street; a true story by Billy Romp with Wanda Urbanska is a fun family read about a Vermont family selling Christmas trees in New York City.
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a must.
• Christmas Stories, a collection by Everyman’s Pocket Classics contains stories for grownups by authors that include Leo Tolstoy, O. Henry, Vladimir Nabokov, Damon Runyon, John Updike, Grace Paley and many others.

            MERRY CHRISTMAS! MAY YOU KNOW ITS TRUE MEANING.

© Gladys M. Hunt 2008-10, reissued in 2022 with minor adjustments with permission of the Executor of the Literary Estate of Gladys M. Hunt (4194 Hilton SE, Lowell, MI 49331). Used by permission. All rights reserved.