Our Favorite Christmas Read Alouds

Christmas
“With all the wonderful, unhurried charm of the old world, the Rolands celebrate a family Christmas. Their Yuletide customs, though strange to us, are deeply rooted in Norwegian tradition.”

"What better time than Christmas, that most family-oriented of holidays, to read stories written by authors honored as winners of the John Newbery Medal for their contributions to literature for children?"

"No one had ever seen big Peter before, and no one ever saw him again, and no one ever saw him at all but small Peter who lived in a dingy, squalid old Shantytown. Yet it was big Peter's gift to small Peter—a shiny toy spade with a red handle, and a small green tree lighted with tiny candles—that caused the Shantytown people to hope again."

"Amahl and the Night Visitors is a beautiful Christmas story—tender, warm, humorous. It tells of a crippled shepherd boy who entertained the Wise Men on their way to Bethlehem, of the simple gift he gave them for the Christ Child, and of the miraculous gift he received in return."

"Here is a traditional story that shares with us Christmas, 1890, and celebrates the continuing joy of Christmas as we know it today. Let us rejoice with this loving family when relatives came to visit on a Great Day long ago."

"This is a very funny and memorable story of an outrageous family of children who discover the Christmas story and help everyone rediscover its meaning."

"Told with great charm and tender sentiment this beloved tale of gentle, warm-hearted Carol Bird, who was born on Christmas day, has delighted young and old for generations."

"This is Anna Kester's story. She is a friend of Ruth Sawyer, and she avers that this tells what happened to her when she was a little girl on a Hungarian farm, many years ago."

"An earthenware porringer, bought by a little Flemish girl of Bruges as a gift for the Christ child and stolen by Robber Hans, finally brings much happiness to her and her grandmother, the lace maker."

"Gabriel and the Hour Book relates the story of the making of an 'hour book' as a wedding gift from King Louis of France to Lady Anne of Brittany and the good fortune it brought to little Gabriel, Brother Stephen's color grinder."

"Author Luckhardt's moving story is based on the familiar Christmas song, 'Good King Wenceslas'. Mrs. Luckhardt has given vivid personalities to the page boy and his king and to the other people of her story as she contrasts the customs and actions of pagans and Christians." This book is now on Internet Archive.

"In one of the most exciting Advent stories you will ever read, follow ten-year-old Jotham across Israel as he searches for his family. Hold your breath when he faces thieves, robbers, and kidnappers. Rejoice in his encounters with wise men, shepherds, and innkeepers until at last he finds his way to the Savior born in Bethlehem."

Alta Halverson Seymour has written a delightful series of Christmas stories about children in many lands. This book takes place in the Netherlands and includes "sailing lessons, family picnics, the ice holiday, and many other high points [that] make Kaatje's story a jolly one."

"It would be a meager Christmas this year for Mama and her five small children. Recently widowed, Mama could get work only occasionally, but the little family was rich in the love and affection they shared with each other... Marguerite de Angeli's host of fans will welcome this fresh warm story of a valiant little family who shared all of the household chores, family problems, and pure, old-fashioned love."

"Ruth Sawyer's unfailing magic . . . brings smiles and tears to her readers. . . . There's the feel of Maine and Maine people in the telling—the author has a gift for absorbing local idiom, for telling a story out of the hearts of her characters."

"The tale of Nutcracker, written by E.T.A. Hoffmann in 1816, has fascinated and inspired artists, composers, and audiences for almost two hundred years. It has retained its freshness because it appeals to the sense of wonder we all share. Maurice Sendak designed brilliant sets and costumes for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Christmas production of Nutcracker and has created even more magnificent pictures especially for this book. He has joined with the eminent translator Ralph Manheim to produce this illustrated edition of Hoffmann's wonderful tale, destined to become a classic for all ages."

"Christmas stories and legends have always meant a great deal to Elizabeth Yates. In 'Once in the Year' she retells in her own way two of the oldest of the Christmas legends—that of the flowering forest and that of the animals at midnight."

"Ivy was the only orphan at St. Agnes's who had no one to go to on Christmas Eve. But she pretended she had a grandmother, and she wished her wish very hard..."

"Christmas is a time of giving. On the first Christmas, God gave his son to the world; and, we are told, wise men brought to the infant gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. About three centuries later, in a part of the world we now call Turkey, a boy marveled at men who could give such fine gifts and not leave their names."

"You know the story of the Three Wise Men of the East, and how they traveled from far away to offer their gifts at the manger-cradle in Bethlehem. But have you ever heard the story of the Other Wise Man, who also saw the star in its rising, and set out to follow it, yet did not arrive with his brethren in the presence of the young child Jesus?"

"For five long years the Three Kings had not come to the little Spanish village where Manolito lived with his foster-father and mother and twenty-three foster-sisters and brothers. Now that the war was over, it seemed to Manolito that the Kings should come again on the sixth of January, riding on their horses and bearing gifts to the boys and girls of all Spain. But who would find the money to hire the horses? Who, indeed, but Manolito and Margarita, who both worked hard and secretly to bring about this happy celebration."

"This is a simple, moving story of a group of Swiss children and their adventures. It tells of sunny days amid the flower-covered pastures, and of winter darkness when snow seals up the passes."

"This is the perfect book to read aloud—a book for every child who has ever asked, 'What was it like in olden times when you were young, Mother?'—and also for every adult who cherishes the memory of Christmases long ago. It is an enchanting story about a family who make Christmas come true in a time of troubles, and of a little girl who learns that the shape and color of Christmas are made up of love given and received."