My daughter loves having books read to her and she even likes “reading” books herself. We have a great number of books partly because I inherited a bunch of books from my childhood along with getting many books as baby shower gifts. But one area our library was lacking was holiday books. But that was remedied when I got the chance to review several holiday books. I read each to my three year old and she liked them all. But there were some she liked better than others.
Listen to the Silent Night was a sweet story of the night of Jesus’ birth. It showed that it wasn’t quite a silent night as there were all kinds of noises. My daughter enjoyed this book because of the animals. For me, it was a very easy read with a great story showcasing the meaning of Christmas.
Strega Nona’s Gift was probably my least favorite of all of these books. This was because there are a lot of words that I had trouble pronouncing. But it was a good book as it highlighted some of the lesser known holidays and my daughter seemed to enjoy it.
A Christmas Tree for Pyn is a sweet story about a little girl name Pyn who wants a tree for Christmas. It was one of my favorites as the search for a Christmas tree brings Pyn and her father closer than they ever have been before.
Grace at Christmas is a story about sharing. Grace has to open her home to a family who can’t get home for Christmas. At first, Grace doesn’t like this idea but she finds that she makes a new friend and has the best Christmas ever. It was a sweet story but I think it may have gone over my three year old’s head a little.
The Twelve Days of Christmas is the holiday song in book form. The illustrations in the book are beautiful and the text is just pretty much the same as the song. It was strange for me to read the words instead of singing of them.
Hansel and Gretel is the age-old story of the children who find a house made out of candy. While I knew this story, I had forgotten how violent it was. I was a little afraid that it was going to give my toddler nightmares, but she didn’t seem to and she liked the story.
The Scrawny Little Tree was one of our favorites. It is the story of a poor little boy who saved up his pennies to get a Christmas tree. He loved his tree so much that it grew bigger. This story really touched me and it touched my daughter as well. She still talks about Christmas trees that “grow bigger bigger”.
Mr. Men – 12 Days of Christmas is a cute story about Mr. Muddle who can never get anything right. He comes up with a plan to give gifts on the 25th of every month to make sure he doesn’t miss Christmas. It’s a cute story and one of my daughter’s favorites. When given a choice, this is one of the books she always picks to have read.
The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers is my daughter’s favorite out of all of these books. It’s the story of the Gingerbread Girl as she chases down a box of Animal Crackers and tries to save them from being eaten by a fox. It’s a really cute story but the singing is the reason that my daughter loves it so much. When the Animal Crackers get out of their box, they run wild and sing a song. Then each different Cracker animal has a song as well. Since it said they were singing, I just started singing as well. My daughter loves it and it is a very fun book because of this.
All in all, we really enjoyed reading these books. They cover a lot of different aspects of the holiday season and any would be a great addition to your child’s library.
Note: I received copies of these books for review purposes.
