The Best Books For Counting Down to Christmas
If there's one thing I adore, it's fun surprises! The Christmas Advent season is almost upon us, and Advent books are the perfect way to incorporate a little extra fun into your days at home or in the classroom this December. If you’re looking to switch up or add to your chocolate Advent calendars, be sure to check out one of these unique books. Unusual books like these are some of my favorites, and they're sure to be a hit with the readers in your life, too. These are also the books that make fun gifting surprises. This list has a variety of formats to check out, so be sure to read the descriptions to learn more. Pick one up and have fun counting down the days till Christmas! Happy reading!
This image shows a mix of eight book covers that show Christmas trees, castles, cats, mice, elves, and snowy scenes.
Cat Family Christmas: A Lift-the-Flap Advent Book
by Lucy Brownridge, illustrated by Eunyoung Seo
Join the Cat Family as they prepare for Christmas, counting down the twelve days until they celebrate. There are decorations to put up, treats to make, grandparents to pick up at the train station, songs to share with neighbors, and more. Each page spread tells how many days until Christmas and what the Cat Family is up to that day. There are more than 140 flaps to lift and peek at what is happening underneath each page spread. The illustrations are charming, cozy, and festive, with little surprises under every flap. Such a delightful share for the Advent!
Christmas is Coming!
by White Star Kids, illustrations by Claudia Bordin
This board book is one of the simplest in this book list collection, but its sturdy large format will help hold up more to little hands; plus, it can propped open and displayed, as its page spreads feature beautiful illustrations! It is packed with 24 flaps, one for each day leading up to Christmas, that hide stories, crafts, recipes, Christmas songs that can be linked to a device, games, and more. Each page spread features one to four flaps to open and a small section of text. So fun!
Christmas is Coming!: An Advent Book
by Chronicle Books, illustrated by Katie Hickey
On the front cover of this one is 24 little flaps. Under each flap is a little illustration to give a clue about that day's corresponding activity. Activities range from songs to sing, recipes to make, seek and find, crafts to make, and more. It's cute, fun, and mostly more simplistic.
The beginning of the book gives ideas on how to read through it, along with a calendar breakdown of each day with the matching chapter and activity. There are enough chapters to be read for one a day and a half chapter to end with on December 25th. Each day and chapter has a suggested activity to pair with it. Activities mainly involve simple, fun crafts. The storyline follows Winston, a mouse, who finds a lost letter addressed to Santa Claus. Winston sets off to find Santa and get him the lost letter in time for Christmas.
We love Winston and were so excited to see another Advent tale release! Winston is back, and this time with a Very Curious Mystery to solve. With five days to be back before Christmas with Oliver, Winston travels the globe with the help of new and old friends to get to the bottom of the mystery. Will he solve the mystery and make it back home in time? Like the first book, this one also has a suggested pairing activity with each chapter to extend the fun!
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King's Christmas Shenanigans
by Alex T. Smith
I adore Alex T. Smith's books, as you might be able to tell, and this is his latest release just in time for the holiday season. Like his previous two Advent books, this one is divided into 24 ½ chapters, perfect for reading a chapter up till Christmas and the ½ chapter on Christmas Day. Unlike his previous two Advent books, this one does not contain additional activities, just the focus of sharing a story each day. This story is a spinoff of The Nutcracker and features the Mouse King stealing the key to the Kingdom of Sweets and causing mayhem before Christmas. Can Clara and Fritz Strudel and their new friend, the Nutcracker, step in to stop him before it's too late? (This one has not released in the US yet, so I’ve linked to a site where you can find it if you’re interested.)
Walk This World At Christmastime
by Big Picture Press, illustrated by Debbie Powell
This informative, beautiful Advent book teaches readers how different places worldwide celebrate Christmas time—featuring lift-the-flaps to learn more about various countries' celebrations each day. There are extra flaps throughout, which can help when multiple children want to open a flap each day! (This one is not being reproduced at the moment, if you check your library you may get lucky. Otherwise, used copies are available in the link.)
For the religious Christmas family, check out this beautiful Advent! A 14-inch, 360-degree tree pops up when readers open this big book! The first big flap opens up to reveal a small devotional book. The book is meant to stay open throughout December, so find a good place for it. For each day up till Christmas, readers open up a flap to find an ornament with an image corresponding to the devotional to read that day. By December 25th, there'll be 24 ornaments on the tree and a star-shaped tree topper at the end to finish the tree and devotional readings. The devotionals give a quote from the Bible, feature a passage to read, and a prayer to wrap up the end of that day's message. The devotional book is meant to tie in the stories from the Bible that tell the family tree of Jesus. It's a super sturdy book with a cute implementation of sharing stories of the Bible with kids this Christmas season. Unique, super cool family share to check out!
And for the older readers who still want to get in on the Advent Christmas fun, check out this graphic novel Advent adventure featuring a chapter for every day leading up to Christmas. Will business tycoon Larchmont Quickbuck sabotage Santa's operation and take over Christmas? Or will the elves be able to help Santa by finding his reindeer in time to save Christmas?
By Tess Bell, illustrated by Anastasiya Ivanova
“Remember that the smallest act of kindness can make the biggest difference!”
And for the little readers who want to make a positive difference in the world, check out this beautiful Advent calendar. So, this is not a book, but I love the focus on kindness and I wanted to share in case you do, too! This calendar opens up to reveal a beautiful scene, with flaps on each side. Readers open a flap to discover an Act of Kindness challenge for that day and a sticker to decorate the Christmas scene. The kindness challenges help to teach the power of being kind to yourself and everyone you meet. After sharing the kindness through the kindness challenge of the day, readers scratch off that number on the scratchy tracker on the back of the calendar. A beautiful way to share some extra love with the world in December.
