Read to your Kidlet

Today Joel learned how to pull books off of the bookshelf. Yay. There's no turning back now. Awhile ago I thrifted a new-in-the-package pair of straps to secure said bookshelf to the studs in the wall. Looks like we'll be needing to install that this week!

While we were scattering the books all over the floor, I mean reading, I got the idea to share with you the Christmas/ Wintry books we own. I very rarely pay full price for books (though I did get Joel two books at Barnes & Noble last weekend because a percentage of the purchase price went back to the band program at my school). Most of these books were thrifted, though some were Jason's when he was little, and a few were gifts. Here we go.


Elf Help by Margie Palatini is one of my favs. It's about a cyber-geeky elf who royally screws up everyone's Christmas lists when his computer crashes. Luckily, the kids end up liking the gifts they mistakenly received, and the elf gets to keep his job as cyber-geek. My copy is personally signed by the author!


The Little Engine that Could and the Snowy, Blowy Christmas by Watty Piper. Santa's reindeer come down with an illness just as he's finishing up delivering all the toys. Uh-oh! There's one toy left to deliver but the reindeer are too sick to fly! Who will come to the rescue? I'll let you figure that one out.

Memories of the Present is by William N. Fullington. It's a tale of a grandfather telling his grandson about this metal wagon that he really wanted for Christmas. In the end, his parents couldn't afford the metal wagon and make him a wooden one instead. He overcomes his disappointment and realizes that the wooden wagon is super special because it was homemade. Can I get a hell yeah?



The Mitten is a Ukrainian folktale told by Jan Brett. In this tale, a little boy loses his white mitten in the snow. One by one, animals begin to snuggle themselves into the mitten to keep warm. Finally a bear squeezes into the mitten, sneezes, and all the animals go flying. The little boy sees his mitten, picks it up, and takes it home. It's a good thing too because his grandmother was going to rip him a new one if he lost his mittens.


Silent Night, A Mouse Tale by Betsy Hernandez and Donny Monk is a cute story about how the church mice nearly ruined Christmas were instrumental in the writing of Franz Gruber's beloved Christmas carol, Silent Night.



Rudolph's Second Christmas by Robert L. May is about two children whose dad works for a lousy circus. No one buys tickets for their circus, and they go from town to town, only staying in each town for one day. Because of this vagabond lifestyle, Santa missed them last year! The children were very upset. Rudolph saves the day by introducing a bunch of misfit animals to the circus. The circus suddenly is very popular, and so the family can stay in one town for months on end now. Santa doesn't miss them this year, and all is well.



The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg is a classic. I thrifted this one today for 50c! Woot, woot!


The Fattest, Tallest, Biggest Snowman Ever by Bettina Ling is a book that first and second graders should be able to read. It cleverly incorporates math into the story!



The Hat by Jan Brett is about a hedgehog who gets a hat stuck on his prickly things (what are those things called?). He feels ridiculous and when questioned by the other animals, he tells them that it's winter for pete's sake! Everyone should wear a hat! The other animals then go steal clothes from a nearby clothesline so that they can cover their heads too. And here the hedgehog thought the other animals were making fun of him!


We own three different copies of "The Nutcracker." You can't go wrong there. We also own three different versions of the Baby Jesus story. Baby Jesus by Lori Froeb is toddler friendly. The Christmas Story is a Little Golden Book, and I think it was my husband's so it's pretty old. Finally, we have The Nativity by Juliana Bragg, copyright 1982. It's as old as my brother!

There you have it folks! What's your favorite Christmas book to read to the kiddos?