Christmas Children’s Books

“Between the dark and the daylight,

When the light is beginning to lower,

Comes a pause in the day’s occupations

That is known as the Children’s Hour.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I love children’s books.  I guess that is why I teach elementary school children. It is my goal to expose them to great literature at a young age.  When my daughter first suggested this blog to me I was apprehensive due to my incredible lack of computer skills.  Nevertheless, here I am.  I opened this blog with a quote from “the children’s hour”, which is a lovely poem by Longfellow where he leads us into his life and we glimpse his three daughters, “Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra, and Edith with golden hair”.  I too, have three daughters, and like Longfellow have frequently had to remember to stop what I am doing and spend time with my girls.  As parents and as educators, we need to remember how important these little people are, take time to pause and spend time with them.  Reading good literature is a simple way to do this.  Which brings us to our first Christmas author.  When I thought about this topic today I knew that I wanted to share some of my favorite Christmas Children’s books by Jan Brett.  I always tell my first graders that when I look for a book to share the first thing I look at is the pictures.  If the pictures capture my imagination, I know I am on my way.  And so, my first story is  “Christmas Trolls” by Jan Brett.  Jan Brett is one of my favorite children’s authors for the simple reason that she  is an amazing illustrator, and on top of that, a great storyteller.  In the story of the Christmas Trolls, we meet Treva, our heroine, and two mischievous trolls, Tig and Mig, who want Christmas so badly that they attempt to steal it from Treva and her family.  How she gets Christmas back and teaches the trolls a lesson make this an unforgettable children’s story.

Jan Brett is also the author of “The Gingerbread Baby” and “Gingerbread Friends” which are two other beautifully illustrated and lovingly and creatively crafted stories.  The Gingerbread Baby” follows the story of the Gingerbread Man, but with a much better ending, and in “Gingerbread Friends” his story continues.  All of these stories teach the importance of love, friendship, sharing and belonging, an important theme during any time of the year, but particularly during the holidays.

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