23 Best Holiday Books for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Kids
Dive into festive tales with our Holiday Books collection for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Kids. Spark joy and imagination for all ages this season.
Hey, guys thanks so much for checking out these 23 Best Holiday Books for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Kids.
Winter holidays are back in the nation’s classrooms, and that means that families are getting together once more for special events.
Besides the obvious joys of spending time with your family, there are also huge benefits to making the most of this holiday season.
So in honor of the upcoming holiday, I thought it would be nice to share with you some of our top favorite holiday books.
Some of the best holiday books for kids are new to us and some of these best holiday children's books we've had for quite a while.
I figured since Black Friday is just around the corner maybe some of these top holiday children's books will be on sale.
Some notable children's holiday books such as Blizzard, Sneezy the Snowman, The Legend of the Poinsettia, Light the Lights!, Snowzilla, The Night Before Hanukkah, Snowmen at Night, The Snowy Day, The Mitten, The Elf on the Shelf, The Polar Express, How to Catch an Elf and Mooseltoe.
1. Blizzard
the first book I want to share is this book right here it is a current favorite and it is called Blizzard it is written and illustrated by John Rocco and he actually is the author and illustrator of the very popular book "Blackout" as well.
let me tell you a few things you can do with this book first and foremost this story is written about a real story when Jon Rocco was 10 years old and it's about the blizzard of 1978 where they got 40 inches of snow in two days now up here in Massachusetts we are used to our fair share of blizzards.
and the way John Rocco writes this story in the illustrations he uses a kind of takes anybody and just puts you right in the main character's shoes it is just beautifully written and students really enjoy that it was based on a true story the book starts on a Monday and actually throughout this story john Rocco puts Sunday, Monday, Tuesday he will put the day of the week somewhere in the illustration so you can really get a sense of the sequence of events that happens throughout the story so this is a great thing for students to kind of realize what changes each day and it's a great author's craft lesson to use.
you can see the way John Rocco told his story and how things change over time now spoiler alert at the end of the story the little boy who is featured is John Rocco and is the only one light enough to actually go over the snow he has to put tennis racquets on his feet and he takes a sled and he goes to the corner market because it's been five days and their family is running out of food and so are a lot of the neighbors and the plows haven't come so he actually has to go on a little trek and get food for his family and his neighbors and something.
but then also before the little boy goes on his track he makes a little list and I think one of the things he writes down is like a candy bar has a little star next to it and I'm guessing that's for himself but he writes a list of what his family needs from the store.
2. Sneezy the Snowman
Another fun one that I feel like you see all over the kindergarten first-grade world is Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright and there's a reason for that this is just fun it's a rhyming book it's easy to read and the kids just love it basically it's about a snowman right here who gets sneezy because he's always so cold and so when he's cold he needs something to warm him up.
so he'll drink some hot cocoa and then what do you think happens when the snowman drinks hot cocoa he melts and the kids have to build him up again and he keeps you know getting colder and colder and so he keeps trying to find ways to warm himself up and melting so it's a cute little book the kids love it.
3. The Legend of the Poinsettia
all right for my next book, I'm going to share one that I like to use if you're teaching a Christmases or holidays around the world unit so you'll have to really think about your own school and district and what you are or are not you know allowed to teach
but if you do any sort of unit on comparing different holidays or Christmases around the world then the Legend of the Poinsettia by Tommy de Pala is a beautiful book to read.
this is actually a retelling of a Mexican folk tale that was passed down from generation to generation and basically, throughout the story it describes the origination of using poinsettias around Christmas time so like I said it's a beautiful book.
4. Light the Lights!
Light the Lights!: A Story About Celebrating Hanukkah & Christmas by Margaret Moorman
all right the next book I want to share with you is called Light the Lights and this one is by Margaret Mormon it is not a particularly deep book but instead, it is a light and heartwarming story about a little girl who celebrates both Hanukkah and Christmas.
It doesn't go into detail it's not secular at all it doesn't go into detail about any kind of the origins of each of the holidays so again not a very deep dive but it does touch upon quite a few of the traditions that both people celebrating Hanukkah and people celebrating Christmas might go through.
5. Snowzilla
This lovely book Snowzilla is all about how this little girl decides to build this mammoth of a snowman he is huge and it actually really angers the townspeople they want to move him to a new location this is a really cute story and the kids seem to enjoy it.
6. The Night Before Hanukkah
The night before Hanukkah this story is a wonderful holiday Hanukkah since a lot of my students celebrate Christmas I do like to teach them about other winter holidays as well and this book really kind of shows the kids how families prepare for Hanukkah.
What a menorah is and how it's used so this is a wonderful book especially for younger children if they don't understand other winter holidays besides Christmas because that's all they know this is a wonderful book to get them started.
7. Snowmen at Night
This story is so much fun it says on the back one Christmas Eve I made a snowman very fat and jolly I dressed him up in red and green and trimmed to that with Holly I saw his arms were trembling as if he couldn't wait it made me start to wonder how do snowmen celebrate what do snowmen do at Christmas.
This is such a fun story let's go ahead and open it up I just want to kind of show you a couple of the pictures the illustrations are absolutely beautiful in this book so it's a lot of fun for the kids it shows the snowman coming down the street with his snow dog so it shows the snowmen around the Christmas tree and Town Square.
This book has a lot of rhyming words so if you have a child who is working on their rhyming words if they're in the primary grades or even some in the intermediate grades this is something fun for them to kind of pick up on those rhyming.
8. The Snowy Day
I absolutely love this book to use in the wintertime whether it's in December or even January this book is wonderful, it talks about things that you can do on a snowy day this little boy Peter goes out and does some things on a snowy day.
When I like to have my kids do after we read this story as we use shaving cream glue and glitter to create our own snow and we actually make an arts and crafts project out of it they then complete a writing activity to tell what they would do on a snowy day.
9. I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Dreidel
This again is to teach the kids about Hanukkah now this story's a little bit funny it's a little bit whimsical is all about the holiday of Hanukkah but in the beginning, she swallows a dreidel so this was a lot of fun for the kids really enjoy it.
10. The Mitten
now my next pick is a very popular book, especially with classroom teachers I love to do a winter activity with this book is 'the mitten' and we all know that the G n Brett is one of the best children's authors maybe that's my opinion but she is amazing.
One thing that I love about this story is that the kids can make predictions as to what will happen so it increases the number of learning opportunities that they have when you're doing this read-aloud,
for example, 'it says once there was a boy named Nicky who wanted his new mittens made from wool as white as snow.
while over here an older woman is knitting we're getting ready to knit with her yarn what do you think she's going to knit probably some new mittens made from wool we'll have to see so you could kind of get the kids to make that prediction and see if they are correct love this book one of my favorites.
11. Mooseltoe
I love this book for kindergarten first-grade, second-grade, third grade any age this book is such a joy to read it's awesome to listen to I love it as an adult it's so much fun so this is Moosel's toe,
just by looking at the front cover the kids just start giggling and are so cute I love it moo-stache and in this story, this poor family does not have a Christmas tree.
So what happens is the sweet dad daddy moose Braves it out into the cold weather to try to find a tree he can't find a tree so as you can see this book gets a little crazy crazy fun if you ask me like those random words
but the moose ends up dressing up like the Christmas tree and it is just a fun story for the kids they think it's really silly and there are lots and lots of giggles.
12. The Elf on the Shelf
My next pick is a very popular children's book during the time of Christmas this book is probably seen a lot in your home already maybe even in your classroom and among the kids. The Elf on the Shelf is a Christmas tradition each year Santa sends his elves to either children's houses or their classrooms.
and these scalp elves actually report to the North Pole each night to Santa to tell him if these children were naughty or nice so the Elf on the Shelf really explains the purpose of the elves and how to give them a name.
This is a lovely book for kids of all ages and it just kind of really brings in that magic of Christmas and it's fun for you too as a parent or as the teacher.
13. The Polar Express
my favorite winter holiday book of all time is 'the Polar Express' this book is one of my favorite Christmas children's books and it has a Caldecott medal it is absolutely wonderful
if you haven't seen the movie that goes along with this book you really need to do so I will be doing a Christmas party/Polar Express party haul.
14. How to Catch an Elf
So the next book I have for you is called How to Catch an Elf now this book is incredibly funny the illustrations here are very very vibrant very beautiful rich colors and there is a rhyme scheme to this so it is very very fun to read and it was pretty much a top favorite for my son and my daughter.
So I think children of all ages are really going to enjoy this one so this story follows along the journey of a Christmas elf along with Santa going from house to house trying to make sure that they do not fall into the traps of these naughty children that are trying to capture them and they switch their target from Santa over to this cute little elf that you see here so you follow their little journey as they try to escape all of these traps that are set for them it's a very very funny sweet story and I think this is a very good addition to anybody's little collection.
15. There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!
So the next book that I have for you there are quite a few of these in this there was an old lady series so this one is called there was a cold lady who swallowed some snow these are always very very fun to read again there is a rhyme scheme to this one and you can pretty much just sing along to all of the words and my kids always enjoy getting these there are quite a few of them so that's perfect for Thanksgiving.
If you're looking for a book for Thanksgiving this follows along the journey of this cold lady who keeps swallowing random things she swallows some snow she swallows coal she swallows a scarf and what's funny is the very end of the story it all makes sense why she's swallowing all these things and what she ends up creating is very very cute so this is again one of our favorites there was a cold lady who swallowed some snow so make sure to check this one out.
16. Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree
So this one here is brand new to us and we've already finished reading it and it's called Mr. Willoughby's Christmas Tree now there are a few books in this collection that I am sharing with you that I consider to be classics or at least if they're not classics already they definitely should be and I think this is one of them.
this story is incredibly sweet it's very very touching and it basically shows you that you know somebody's trash could be somebody else's treasure all of the illustrations in the story are very very cute they're very clean they're very crisp they're very easy to tell what's going on and the writing in here is not very difficult so it's not like you're having to read paragraph after paragraph my daughter and my son really really enjoyed this one.
So I would say this may not be the book for a toddler but definitely for children ages two or three and above they will definitely enjoy this story and it follows along the tail of Mr. Willoughby's tree who unfortunately happens to purchase a tree that way too big for his home so they end up having to chop it off but what happens then is they share that tree along with um miss Adelaide who is Mr. Willoughby's maid and she happens to have a very short roof as well in her house so that tree that they cut for her ended up being too big as well and continues on this journey of what happens to this tree and how many lives this tree touches.
so it is very very sweet like I said I really enjoyed reading this one very much and the graphics are just very very cute so if you guys haven't had a chance to read this one I definitely recommend that you guys pick it up Mr. Willoughby's Christmas tree definitely one of my favorites.
17. Pete the Cat Saves Christmas: Includes Sticker Sheet!
The next book I have is called Pete the Cat Saves Christmas and what I liked about this one is how it differs from some of the other Pizza Cat books this one actually does have a rhyme scheme so I was very pleasantly surprised with that and the illustrations in this book are just the same as all of the other Pete the cat books so they are very very vibrant.
And the story was really nice it talks about of course Santa is a cat but it talks about how Santa catches a very bad cold so he's not able to do his job that Christmas so he sends in for help and asks Pete the cat to help him deliver all of these presents so Pete the cat goes on this journey cruising with his of course very groovy minibus traveling to the north pole grabbing all those presents and making sure that every child gets their present on Christmas day.
So a very very fun read I think if your kids already love pizza cats make sure to grab this one for them it's perfect for their collection and if you guys haven't been introduced to Beat the Cat then I would definitely say that this one would make a very good introduction and I think you'll fall in love with a lot of their stories so beat the cat saves Christmas.
18. A Witch At Christmas
So the next book I have for you is called A Witch at Christmas now I didn't know what to expect when I ordered this one this is brand new to our collection this year and if you've seen any of our Halloween collections you know that Halloween is absolutely big at our house, to say the least, so I was very happy to see that they had something.
And the story starts off with this little witch who is incredibly naughty and doesn't listen to her parents so this book is perfect for teaching consequences to your children when they don't listen to mom and dad so because she doesn't listen to her parents she ends up in big trouble and ends up flying off on accident to the north pole but that ends up being the perfect thing for her because while she's there she learns the importance of being kind and she meets a couple of elves while she's there she meets Mrs. Claus and they all give her these little.
I want to say they're like tests that she ends up passing and it's funny because at the beginning of the story, you see how she's dressed in very dark clothes almost symbolizing you know how dark her moods are and how to mean she can be at times but towards the end of the story you see that her attire has changed and it is a lot more bright and festive.
so this story really did surprise me like I said I didn't know what to expect when I ordered it and it started off a little slow but once you kind of get rolling you can kind of see where the author is going with this and it turned out to be a very fun read my son actually very much enjoyed this one now this one I would definitely say because the writing is like in paragraph format it is quite a bit to read so parents you have been warned but my son was engaged the entire time so you know that's a good thing so again a witch at Christmas didn't know what to expect but this one actually came out to to be a really really fun read and we very much enjoyed this one so a witch at Christmas.
19. Santa's Underwear
So the next one we have was a very funny read and this was called Santa's Underwear and I mean you basically know what to expect from the cover, of course, this is going to be funny so this follows the journey of Mr. Santa Claus, and all of the things that he does in preparation for Christmas day so he eats his breakfast he takes a shower he scrubs his beard and lastly, he starts looking for his.
I guess you can say his lucky set of underwear that he wears every Christmas and for some reason, he can't find it so he tries on a whole bunch of different other undergarments but he's just never satisfied because he wants the one that makes him feel happy and he cannot find it.
so the end of the story is very very sweet I'm not going to ruin it for you just in case you guys do want to read it and share it with your kids but I think your family is really going to enjoy this one and the graphics are very very funny as well so this one's called Santa's underwear and I think this is pretty much a favorite for us.
20. Dasher: How a Brave Little Doe Changed Christmas Forever
Dasher: How a Brave Little Doe Changed Christmas Forever by Matt Tavares
I will tell you guys this one should be a classic I mean the story is so heartfelt it is so sweet the story itself I mean it's so well written and even though the writing is a little bit long not every page there are a few that have you know a bit longer paragraphs in them but the story is incredibly engaging and my son just couldn't wait for me to turn the page and the illustrations in here are absolutely beautiful.
they are very dark though I'm not going to say that they're very vibrant colors this book I wouldn't say that this is for children under two unless you know they can stand still and they can know to wait for you to read such a long story but for children that are older than that this is a book that you are going to want to read every single Christmas and it follows along with the story of dasher the reindeer and his desire to visit his hometown it's a story that his mom always talks about and he's just always wanted to go there but he works for this very bad man who will not let them leave so in his escape he meets Santa Claus and Santa Claus horse silverbell so this journey basically tracks how Santa Claus came to have his eight reindeer flying for him.
so again very very sweet story I absolutely love this one I did not know what to expect when we got this one this year but I can't believe that we did not have this one sooner so make sure that if you guys don't grab any of these books go ahead and grab this one you will not be disappointed this is definitely going to be in our collection forever so this is called dasher.
21. The Night Before Christmas
so speaking of holiday classics, of course, we can't have a Christmas list without the night before Christmas this is a story that we read every single year and we read this one on the night before Christmas just like the title suggests and just like the dasher book as you can see the illustrations aren't incredibly bright so it follows very much along with just like the story of dasher in that respect, the writing here is obviously a lot shorter and there is a rhyme scheme.
so this story is perfect for all ages and it is just such a fun read if you haven't read this one where have you been you guys definitely have to get this one for your collection if you don't have it already it is a favorite and a classic for a reason so again the night before Christmas I almost said the nightmare before Christmas that is how much I love Halloween guys okay.
22. Tough Cookie: A Christmas Story
Tough Cookie: A Christmas Story by Edward Hemingway
So the next one is brand new to us this year and I got this one specifically for my daughter because as I was looking through titles of books that I wanted to purchase she saw this one and I was like 'tough cookie' and she's also like 'tough cookie' i want 'tough cookie' so we ended up getting this one for her and you guys.
this is the cutest little story it follows the journey of this little sugar cookie who is so excited to be made and the first thing he says is I'm a sugar cookie I'm sweet and this wolf actually comes along to the bakery where he was just made and he decides that he's a little hungry he wants to make sure this cookie is actually sweet and lo and behold when he takes a bite of this cookie he realizes that this cookie is not sweet at all.
so the journey of this little cookie to basically find his identity find what he was made for he goes through you know different trials and he goes through ups and downs and it's kind of an emotional book because it really teaches you about bravery about self-identity about acceptance about loving who you are and always feeling like you are here in this world for a purpose and that you should never feel like you don't have a purpose in this world.
so it was a very very sweet story the graphics here are so cute and the wording here is very very clever so there is a rhyme scheme to this one this is perfect for all ages so if you're looking for books for your little ones this is going to be a favorite for them so I'm very happy that we were able to pick this one up so again this is called tough cookie a Christmas story.
23. The Elf on the Shelf
And the last one, of course, I had to include the elf on a shelf and this book like it says the Christmas tradition has become a tradition in our house and we started this tradition when my son turned one so I went out and I purchased the box that included this book and it included our elf we were able to name our elf so now my son is always like you know where's charlie where's charlie when is charlie visiting us and now my daughter who's two she is also on the end for Charlie when he comes to visit so they are impatiently waiting for charlie to make his debut.
So this story is basically telling us who our elves are and why they are here and they are basically here to make sure that our boys and girls remain nice and not naughty and letting us know that he sends messages to Santa to make sure that they are behaving for them to receive their gifts and remain on be a nice list at the end of the year so it also describes the game basically of finding your elf every morning because he does like to play little tricks and he does like to move throughout the night while they're sleeping.
So you need to make sure that your kids do not touch your elf because then the magic will leave and he won't get to share all of his stories and everything that he's learned since he's been in your home this is such a wonderful book and this one is an incredibly fun read and one that my children just enjoy reading every single year so this one we will bust out on December 1st when charlie comes to visit he has already written us a letter letting us know that he is coming into town.
Conclusion of Best Holiday Books for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Kids
So I hope that this collection of The 23 Holiday Books for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Kids makes it into your heart and makes it so that you get to share all of these wonderful books with your children.
If you are a beginner I definitely recommend that you read this article as it will help you out this holiday season so again.
I hope you enjoyed this article and make sure to share that like make sure to subscribe if you haven't already and make sure to hit that little notification button so that you are notified of when I post so again thank you guys so much.
If you liked this article and you found it helpful please give it a share also please make sure you click that subscribe button to make sure you don't miss any future articles. thanks so much to us see you soon bye.
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About Muhiuddin Alam
Muhiuddin Alam is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ReadingAndThinking.com. He serves as a consistent contributor to various websites and publications, including Medium, Quora, Reddit, Linkedin, Substack, Vocal, Flipboard, and Amazon KDP. Alam personally read numerous books and, for the past 10 years, has been providing book recommendations and reviews. Find Me: About Me & Google Knowledge Panel.
