Wednesday, December 12

Christmas Book


This year choosing a Christmas book for my girls was difficult.  My almost 9 year old loves the tradition of the Christmas books but really doesn't want to listen to me read them anymore.  She'll gather a pile of them up and bring them into her room and read them to herself, though.  My 6 year old is still there, asking me to read them to her.
Ella Bella Ballerina and the Nutcracker

Other than my oldest's changing preferences I found it challenging to find a good, meaty story.  Not a novelty book or one where the story is secondary to the illustrations.  A meaningful, well-written, story - like The Polar Express, Mr Willoby's Christmas Tree or Santa's Book of Names.  I browsed at a couple book stores (shopping online doesn't lend itself to this kind of gift selection) and just didn't find the book. 
Ella Bella Ballerina and the Nutcracker

In the end I just went with Ella Bella Ballerina and The Nutcracker because I liked the illustrations and because of my emotional attachment to The Nutcracker (which we're seeing again this year!!)  My almost 9 year old didn't even look through it and my 6 year old listened to it once.  Maybe they'll grow fond of it the longer it is around.
Ella Bella Ballerina and the Nutcracker

 In Ella Bella Ballerina and The Nutcracker, Ella Bella is magically swept into the Nutcracker ballet by Clara.  The magic happens in her ballet studio after her teacher, Madam Rosa, announces that the class will be performing the Nutcracker.  Clara takes Ella Bella by the hand and together they experience the Nutcracker.
Ella Bella Ballerina and the Nutcracker
 Did you buy a Christmas book this year?  Was it a winner?  I'd love any Christmas book recommendations too. 

Previous Christmas Book posts here.

5 comments:

likeschocolate said...

Yes, we bought a couple. The best Christmas pageant ever was a hit with the 10 year old. It is pretty funny. My favorite is the story of Holly and Ivy. You can find my list on my blog, but by far this is my favorit. It makes me cry every time I read it. You can only find it on line since it is out of print.

km said...

We tend to check books out from the library. We do have quite a few, but I'm not adding to our collection still. I really like Patricia Polacco books. An Orange for Frankie is good. And there are some others that talk about Hanukkah. http://www.patriciapolacco.com/books/index.html

My daughter's favorite is Mortimer's Christmas Manger by Jane Chapman

And 2 years ago a new to us book was The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski

And if you can find it...there's a Haffertee Hamster Christmas book. But the one we have was mine from when I was 9 or 10.

Happy Holiday Reading!

And...my kiddos are off reading the books to themselves this year too.

This Girl loves to Talk said...

The stores in australia have the same hokey terrible christmas books so I had to go online this year as there was nothing left to buy! I ended up googling blogs that listed their favourite christmas books and this helped me to find some nice ones. Most I had never heard of.

I also hear you on the older kids thing.. my 11 year old is no longer interested in the nightly reading of the christmas book (sad face :( lucky my 9 year old is still sort of interested and I have the 6 and 3 year old to do it for now.

I recently saw Holly and Ivy in a rare book bookstore and kicking myself I didnt buy it... pretty sure I saw it on book depository though!!

Emily Malate said...

We love the Gingerbread man you sent us! That's Linc's favorite one so far. He still loves that darn Jingle Bugs book too. Guess it's not so bad. Hard to compete with books that have flaps you can pull :)

Dana said...

Hi Katy,
THanks for sharing the book selection for this year. I've taken your suggestions for past Christmases...just read Mr. Willoughby to M last night :)

This year I selected O'Henry's, The Gift of the Magi (via amazon.com.) Of course, I had forgotten that it is a bit difficult to get through, even as a read aloud for an 8 year old. But we did it...and she got the gist of the story despite the complicated narrative. I probably would have held off on that one for a couple of years if I had picked it up in the store.

A favorite in our house is The Christmas Magic by Lauren Thompson.

Take care,
D

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