Christmas Stories To Read Aloud

I am always looking for good Christmas stories to read during December so that the Christmas season fills the month. Of course we also watch The Rudolph Christmas special, and A year Without a Santa Claus, and the Peanuts Christmas special, along with the original Grinch. But books have to be part of the celebration.

What I look for in a Christmas story is that it be not overtly religious, and preferably not tied in to any licensed character. And of course I like a good story. Some of the Highlights of our past and future Christmas reading are listed below.

Father Christmas and the Donkey by Elizabeth Clark, illustrated by Jan Ormerod. This is my favorite Christmas story that we have read thus far. It is a sweet story, and has an animal in it which always goes over well with my audience.

Who Will Guide My Sleigh Tonight? by Jerry Palotta, illustrated by David Biedrzycki.
This is very simple, but has great illustrations showing Santa's sleigh being guided by dolphins, giraffes, tigers, etc. Merry loved this book and asked for it again and again!

The Peterkins' Christmas adapted by Elizabeth Spurr from Lucretia P. Hale's original 19th century story. Went over all right, but was not loved by my audience. This year she enjoyed the Thanksgiving one in which their dinner gets stuck in the dumbwaiter. So I have hopes that she will like the Christmas one, but only time will tell. Reading these books had given me hope that she was ready for the original stories, but since they are adapted, I suspect that a lot is cut out.

Letters from Father Christmas by J. R.R. Tolkien illustrated by the author. This is a wonderful collection of letters that Tolkien wrote to his children each year around Christmas, sometimes exchanging several letters with them. The letters tell of Father Christmas's adventures getting ready to deliver Christmas presents every year. He is helped by his bumbling friend the North Polar Bear and by his elves. There are dangerous goblins, and Norse writing, and lovely pictures. This is really a not to be missed Christmas story!

Christmas Mice by Bethany Roberts, illustrated by Doug Cushman. A simple sweet picture book for the very young. I keep thinking that she is getting too old for this one, but we always do it, so we always have to do it again. It's a tradition. So we will probably do it again this year!

T'was the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore. We read several edition, but the favorite one has mice in the illustrations. I will have to look for the book to find out who the illustrator is as I cannot recall and cannot find it on Amazon. It's not Christmas without this story. And usually we get several editions out of the library.

Tyranoclaus by Janet Lawler. Dinosaurs can do no wrong in our house. This was a hit when I read it aloud. I am not yet sure if it will be asked for again or not.

Christmas in the Country by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Diane Goode. Cynthia Rylant is just wonderful. A lovely old fashioned Christmas in the Country

Books I plan to Read this year for the first time:

Fair's Fair by Leon Garfield, illustrated by S. D. Schindler. This is an exciting story of orphans, mansions, cold winters, and a happy ending set in London in perhaps the 19th century.

Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck, illustrated by Mark Buehner. This is a sweet story about a boy who gets up very early in the morning to milk the cows a chore he usually dislikes, in order to let his father sleep in the morning and save him some work. It brings tears to my eyes when I read it.

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote

A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas

I am wondering if she is ready for the E. Nesbit, Bastable story The Conscience Pudding, which I have published by itself. It starts with a bit about how their mother has died, and I am afraid it might be too upsetting. However, I am desperate to start reading E. Nesbit to Merry, so I am tempted. It will probably be best to wait. Also, I have always preferred the stories with the sarcastic magic creatures and all the funny things that happen because of the magic.

Perhaps I will begin reading Some non-Christmas E. Nesbit stories. Merry, is probably ready for The Book of Dragons. And I have two of the stories from it bound as picture books so that might be the best way to start. If I can find them! They may be packed in a box waiting for us to move a month from now. We are so ready to go it's insane! Also there is a lot of packing and we don't want to leave it for the last minute... Still we are packing and we haven't even had the closing. yet.