The Best Books to Share With Your Kids This Holiday Season
With the holiday season quickly approaching, it’s easy to forget that a single book or a book gift box can make a great gift! So while you will undoubtedly spend a fair bit of time in line at the toy store this year, be sure to also hit up your favourite book store, (either online or in-person), as encouraging your children to read now is a gift that will pay dividends for the rest of their lives. Here’s a list of some of the best books you can share with your kids this holiday season (spoiler alert: not all of the suggestions are Christmas books!).
Board Books
This Little Explorer: A Pioneer Primer
Your child will eventually come to learn all about the world’s most famous explorers in school, but this brightly coloured board book, featuring 10 of the greatest explorers in history, is an excellent primer for what they will learn down the road. Filled with cute illustrations and age-appropriate facts, This Little Explorer is sure to inspire your tiny explorer to reach for the stars!
Penguin’s Christmas Wish
Your child’s bookshelf might already contain one or two of the books in Salina Yoon’s Penguin series. If it doesn’t, why not start with Penguin’s Christmas Wish, the story of a lovable penguin’s journey to spend the holidays with his loved ones? Unfortunately, not all goes as planned for the little guy, but with a little holiday magic, he just might learn a lesson or two about the importance of friends and family.
Ribbit!
As a new day dawns, a group of frogs realize that a pig has planted himself smack-dab in the middle of their peaceful swamp. Curious as to why he’s there and where he came from, the frogs can only manage to extract an enthusiastic “RIBBIT!” from the pig. As the mystery continues to grow and more curious creatures come to see what the fuss is about, the frogs realize that the pig is not there to bother them, but to make some new friends! Rodrigo Folgueria’s Ribbit! is a charming story about friendship and about celebrating the differences between us.
A truly unique story about a young boy who is a self-proclaimed “hug machine,” this touching story, accompanied by truly goofy drawings, illustrates the many ways in which a good hug can change someone’s day for the better. It also encourages kids to be warm, caring, and affectionate to the people around them.
Never Touch a Monster
Of course, you should never touch a monster, unless you own this touch and feel book. Each page contains a goofy monster and a few silly rhymes, but that’s not all you can expect from this brightly coloured story book. Tactile materials added to the scaly or hairy monsters create an interactive experience that both parent and child will enjoy. Put it all together and Never Touch a Monster is clearly a must-have book for the little monster in your life.
Hello, World! Weather
As adults, we don’t give much thought to the changing seasons. To a child, however, this is a fascinating process! In Hello, World! Weather, your child will be guided through a year’s worth of changes in a backyard, and introduced to some basic scientific principles that govern weather and weather patterns. As a toddler, learning never stops and this book will help answer many of the questions they have about the world around them.
Picture Books
Looking for a book that encourages your child to love reading? Bunny loves going to the library for outdoor story time, but when the weather turns cold and everyone moves indoors, his favourite pastime is cancelled. Determined not to miss out on the joy of reading just because of some bad weather, Bunny and his friends hatch a plan to sneak into the library at night so they can spend time with the books they love so much. Anyone who loves reading, no matter the age, will appreciate the lengths the cast of characters go to in order to enjoy a good book.
Mice Skating
Most field mice hunker down when the cold weather hits—but not Lucy! She loves the winter! She loves hearing the snow crunch beneath her feet and she loves wearing a ridiculously fluffy hat to ward off the chills. But what Lucy loves most of all, to the bewilderment of the other mice, is ice skating. As hard as she tries, she can’t quite seem to get the other mice to share in her enjoyment.In this book, you’ll find out if Lucy is up to the challenge of getting the other mice to enjoy skating as much as she does!? This story will surely inspire your children to get out of the house and enjoy those brisk winter days!
The Grizzly Bear Who Lost His Grrrrr!
Imagine being a duck who couldn’t quack, or a dog who lost his bark. In this book (penned by award-winning author Rob Biddulph), Fred, a grizzled grizzly bear, is widely known for having the loudest, scariest growl in the entire forest. One morning, Fred wakes up and his GRRRR! is simply gone. Will Fred get back the one thing he’s worked so hard to achieve? Is there more to life than simply being the bear with the loudest growl?
The Friend Ship
No one likes being lonely, hedgehogs least of all. When our Little Hedgehog overhears others speaking about a “friend ship” it appears her time being alone is at an end. Her imagination takes off and she imagines a giant ship filled to the brim with other animals she can be friends with. She desperately searches for the ship, meeting other lonely animals along the way, but as hard as they try to locate it, their search comes up empty. Eventually, Little Hedgehog and her companions come to realize that they’ve created their own friendship without knowing it! Sometimes, the thing you’re looking for is right in front of you.
The Little Reindeer
A story of an unlikely friendship between a girl and a lost, wandering reindeer, The Little Reindeer follows the duo as they set off on the journey of a lifetime and, in the process, experience a magical Christmas that neither one of them will ever forget.
What does love really mean? When a small robot named Z finds a message in a bottle, he and his friends become transfixed with the end of the letter: “Love, Beatrice.” Being robots, the concept of love is unknown to them, so they decide to embark on a journey to discover what “love” means. Though they travel far and wide, even meeting the sender of the letter, Beatrice, they realize that the love they sought was around them all along.
Any of these books, or others favoured by you and your loved ones, are great for sharing with your little ones this holiday season. Lillypost offers monthly book box subscriptions perfect for children of any age, which make for great gifts for others and facilitate bonding time between you and your loved ones.
I love books and luckily my grandkids here do too. I love encouraging kids to read, it opens up a whole new world to them and helps enormously when they start school.
Good old books, timeless and wonderful gift.
Penguin’s Christmas Wish sounds like fun
These all sound like fun reads for the kiddos. I didn’t know that there are monthly book subscription services too! Great gift ideas.
Books make such nice gifts for children. The “Hug Machine” sounds like a sweet story and my granddaughter would really enjoy “Bunny’s Book Club”.
Great book selections, I always give at least one book each to the kids.
Thanks these sound like good books to read with children
Oh gosh – some of these sound adorable! I will add a few to the wish list!
I love sharing books with the young people in my life!