Children's Classics: Christmas Books

I know it's obvious, but I love children's books! I'm going to start with two Dutton Children's Books:

Christmas Magic, written and illustrated by Michael Garland. It's a very sweet story of a little girl, Emily, who builds a snow-woman. With a little Christmas magic, some wild things start happening (like the stockings making a kick-line!)

The Friendly Beasts, Traditional Christmas Carol. I am such a sucker for a rhyming book! Each 4-line stanza is written by a different animal in the Christmas story. Here is the sheep's description:

"I," said the sheep with the curly horn,
"I gave Him my wool, for His blanket warm.
He wore my coat on Christmas morn."
"I," said the sheep with the curly horn.

Twelve Lizards Leaping: A New Twelve Days of Christmas, written by Jan Romero Stevens, illustrated by Christine Mau, and published by Rising Moon. This is the traditional song, with Southwest themed items. For example, "Five Turquoise Rings" instead of "Five Golden Rings".

Let me wrap up with the books that connect Christmas to Easter:

As I've already written here, Christmas Night, Fair and Bright is a MUST!!!

J is for Jesus, written by Crystal Bowman and illustrated by Claudine Gevry, was published by zonderkidz. (Click here for free educator resources.) With rhyme, this books explains how the candy cane came to be and what it's shape and color stand for. Since our kids see so many candy canes at Christmas time, you can use this to reinforce the gospel message.

The Tale of Three Trees, retold by Angela Elwell Hunt, illustrated by Tim Jonke, and published by Lion Children's Books. I realize this isn't even a Christmas book really, but the second tree is used for the manger. Every home library should include this wonderful book, and since we already had the board book version on hand we just pulled it for Christmas!

For more Christmas Children's Classics, head on over to 5 Minutes for Books!