I’m so happy to welcome my mom on to Two Fir Tea to write a guest post for us! She is all about finding good reads for all ages, and as we’re marching through the Advent season towards Christmas, she has put together a list of her favorite Advent and Christmas books for young readers. It’s taken many years of Christmas book times for her to hunt out the best that there is to be had for the littler readers, so it’s a pleasure to welcome her to the blog today to share her careful findings!
It’s Advent time! Advent is a beautiful time of intentionally setting our hearts and minds on Christ and the glory and wonder of His incarnation. At the Fagundo house we love the tradition of gathering up a giant stack of books from our basement and from Melcat, the online interlibrary loan program for libraries throughout Michigan (FREE!). I wrap up our giant stack of books (in brown paper & tied up with strings if Madi has anything to say about it!), number them, unwrap one a day and then savor them over and over together.
A note on selecting books:
What we place before our children’s eyes as a read-aloud or in their hands to tuck away with themselves and treasure, we are putting out as food to be soaked up by their soul. Let us choose carefully what we feed their souls and so pick books that feed their appetites for the things that God delights in and help their view of God and His created world to be founded firmly on and saturated in the truth!
Gladys Hunt sums it up perfectly in her book Honey For A Child’s Heart, what we affectionately call in our house “the book of books”.
“What I am saying is simply this: As parents we are concerned about building whole people–people who are alive emotionally, spiritually, intellectually. The instruction to train up a child in the way he should go has enormous dimensions. It is to teach a child to think, to influence character, to give high ideals, and to encourage integrity. It is to provide largeness of thought, creative thinking, imaginative wondering. How large are your goals for your children? Why have a small world when you can walk with God into the larger place that is His domain? Young children, fresh uncluttered minds, the world before them–to what treasures will you lead them? With what will you furnish their spirit?
Below are some literary treasures covering Christ’s birth that I’ve divided into groups based on what ages might appreciate them.
For the littlest ones:
The Stars Came Out on Christmas by William Boniface: This is a simple counting book, with more and more stars to count popping up (and literally popping out) on each page. This has been my youngest son’s favorite book the last few years when he was 3 and 4.
Who is Coming to Our House? By Joseph Slate: This sweet little book is told from perspective of animals in stable and is another one of my youngest’s favorites.
Stable in Bethlehem: A Christmas Counting Book by Joy Hulme: Soft pictures in warm tones fill this counting book. Little ones just love to count!
Baby Jesus is Born: The First Bible Collection: This board book with a handle has been loved by my littles, perhaps mostly for its handle! Also, they can “possess” this one themselves without it getting destroyed…huge plus! The text is very simplified and the pictures are nothing special but it was handy for my very littlest ones to hold and have the pleasure of looking through the story themselves while we read the text straight from the Bible, or just narrated the story ourselves from the illustrations.
B is for Bethlehem by Isabel Wilner: This gorgeous book is just a bit of a longer read than the others I’ve listed so far. I’ve never seen this alphabet board book on any of the myriad of Christmas book lists I’ve read but the words are carefully chosen in clever rhyme and I love the illustrations. They are vivid and full of color and the furthest thing from cheesy; I’d absolutely frame the pictures.
The Stable Where Jesus was Born by Rhonda Gowler Greene: Our family loves books in cumulative rhyme like “The House That Jack Built” and this one uses it well.
The Manger Where Jesus Lay by Larchar: Another sweet book in cumulative rhyme, and this one includes rebus pictures for involving your youngest readers.
A Child Was Born by Maccarone: Lovely watercolor illustrations with simple but clear text.
Tiny Baby Jesus by Dandi Daley Mackall: Another simple retelling of Christ’s birth for little ones.
The First Christmas by Mary Manz Simon: Filled with colorful, animated pictures full of emotion; great for eager young readers.
Mortimer’s Christmas Manger by Karma Wilson: Mortimer is a cute little mouse looking for a new home until he finds a soft warm spot for himself in a nativity scene. He soon hears the true story behind the statues in the scene and works to restore them to their proper places.
Books With More Text
Baby Jesus Prince of Peace by Carol Greene: This is one of many wonderful books from Passalong Arch books, books they encourage you to read and pass along as a way to share the gospel. This one tells the story of Christ’s birth in lilting rhyme and each page has some funny little remarks from some mice who are journeying with Mary & Joseph along the way. My children love to read the mice parts in their best squeaky voices and it never seems to get old! Many of these Arch books are quite old and can be scooped up as cheap used paperbacks online.
The Christmas Star by Moira Butterfield: This one is creatively illustrated with photos of scenes made with a variety of textiles. One plus is that she shows that the Magi do indeed visit an older Jesus.
Little Shepherd’s Christmas by Carol Heyer: We are big fans of Carol Heyer’s work in our house. Her writing is carefully crafted and her illustrations are breathtaking. This one is told from the perspective of three shepherd brothers and shows the youngest cast-aside brother finding the hope of the Messiah they’ve all waited for.
The First Christmas by Carol Heyer: This Heyer treasure tells the full story from Mary and Gabriel through the wise men and also takes time to relate all these to our celebrations at Christmas.
Humphrey’s First Christmas by Carol Heyer: Our favorite Heyer book series, and its all about Humphrey the camel! This one is so cute and always makes us laugh, and who can resist her pictures?!?
A Christmas Story by Brian Wildsmith: Another winner in the illustration category is Brian Wildsmith. Once you see his detailed paintings with gold embossing on each page, you’ll know what I mean. This story has a donkey and young girl following Joseph and Mary on their journey. There are a few clever little things hiding on each page that my kids love to find, and the gold details really add to the glory and wonder being told through the text!
The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg: This book does not tell the story of Christ’s birth per se as the others do, but it does relate the possible story behind candy canes, sharing them as a reminder of Christ as our Shepherd willing to suffer and lay down His life for us. The illustrations are hard to turn away from and extremely realistic!
The Three Gifts of Christmas by Jennie Bishop: I love the message this book conveys. It’s set in a medieval royal family whose parents make an unpopular and uncommon decision to change the way they do Christmas. It tackles selfishness and greed head-on. We also love her other book about saving your love and choosing its recipient wisely: The Princess and the Kiss (The Squire & The Scroll is her other similar book for young boys that we haven’t read yet but intend to soon with my nearly eight year old son!).
The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado: A sweet story of a lamb learning to be content with his lot in life and seeing how God could still use him in a special way in the stable where Jesus is born.
Longer reads:
Mary’s First Christmas by Walter Wangerin Jr.: A fantastic book imagined from the perspective of Mary with rich, vivid illustrations that grab your attention. It’s too long for one bedtime reading, but perfect for splitting over multiple nights. This one is an absolute treasure and shouldn’t be missed!
The Candle in the Window by Grace Johnson: A retelling of an old folktale, this book is a good reminder that whatever we do for the least of these, Jesus said we are doing it unto Him.
The Very First Christmas by Paul Maier: Told as a mother and son are reading Luke and dialoguing together about it with extra explanations for all the son’s questions. Text pairs well with the beautiful, realistic pictures.
Jacob’s Gift by Max Lucado: A talented young carpenter boy puts a lesson from his rabbi into action and by sacrificially giving to someone in need, He ends up giving to the Lord himself.
Away on A Hilltop by Gary Bower: Traverse City author Gary Bower and his wife Jan have teamed up to write a whole host of books (of which we own and love many!). Her watercolor work produces such clear pictures, you’d think some of them were photographs, and his rhymes always fit together perfectly. This book carries on the rhyme of Away in a Manger all the way to the cross and beyond. We actually sing through the whole book when we read it at our house! Christ coming in the flesh and dying on the cross for us are two events that make the most sense when viewed side by side and this book accomplishes just that!
Perfect Christmas by Gary & Jan Bower: A cozy book in skillful rhyme from the same talented team about a family that persists in celebrating Christmas despite setback and hardship, with a tongue twisting race-to-the-finish of a last page!
The King’s Christmas List by Eldon Johnson: Don’t be turned off by the older style of illustrations, this one is absolutely one of our favorites! Young Emma and her talking dog are invited to the King’s birthday party, but on the way end up giving away all their gifts for the King to people in need whom they meet. Confused about why everyone at the King’s party are giving gifts to each other rather than the king, they gain an audience with the king himself for him to help them understand what he would truly like for his birthday.
A Tale of Two Kings by Gloria Furman: Author of Missional Motherhood as well, Furman does a wonderful job laying the foundation from creation itself and onward as to why Christ had to come as the “second Adam”, to bring life and righteousness, where sin and death were all we got through the first Adam. The illustrations are colorful and captivating and do a particularly good job eclipsing any faces of Jesus in a glorious glow of light, which actually adds to the meaning of the pictures instead of detracting from it.
Chapter Books:
Jotham’s Journey, Bartholomew’s Passage, Ishtar’s Odyssey, and Tabitha’s Travels by Arnold Ytreeide: These four chapter books are broken into the perfect number of chapters to read once daily during the entire Advent season, and each chapter finishes on a cliffhanger and with a corresponding short devotional thought to end the night on. These are best for kids 8+ as some of them, especially Jotham’s Journey, get rather intense and have a pretty scary antagonist. These have been a favorite family tradition of ours for many years and with four different books you can read them for four years before cycling through them again. *One note on Tabitha’s Travels: I felt the character had a pretty strong-willed, girl-power attitude as she sets out to prove herself that the author didn’t really address so we made sure to make that a conversation as we read.* One fun element of these books is that though they can be read in any order, all of the stories weave in and out of each other and culminate in the birth of Christ.
Comment below with your favorite advent book recommendations!
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