Winter is definitely the perfect time to spend hours and hours reading together, which is probably the reason why our Winter Book Basket is the biggest of all. It is a happy mix of Winter books, Christmas books, Hanukkah books and general books that we have found to be perfect for these dark and cold days.
Winter Books
The Winter Warming by Jane Patience
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Princess Evie’s Ponies – Silver the Magic Snow Pony by Sarah KilBride
Little Princesses – The Snowflake Princess by Katie Chase
Postman Pat’s Letters on Ice by John Cunliffe
Postman Pat Goes Sledging by John Cunliffe
Our favourite Winter themed book is probably The Snowchild by Debi Gliori, which is the story about a little girl who is always being left out. She feels lonely and tries hard to make friends, but nothing quite seems to go how she hopes, until one winter morning everything changes. The ending is reassuring and the story is so beautifully told.
Non-Religious Christmas Books
These are books that focus on Santa, family, celebrating together and the magic of Christmas.
Christmas Kitten by Vivian French
Disney Christmas Storybook Collection
Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs
Christmas in Puddle Lane by Sheila McCullagh
The Gingerbread Man – A Touch and Feel Book
Postman Pat and the Christmas Baby by John Cunliffe
Dora the Explorer – A Present for Santa , this is Arthur’s favourite book, it is a big board book with 45 flaps to lift!
If I had to pick a favourite Christmas book it would probably be Christmas in Exeter Street by Diana Hendry, I don’t know how this book came to be with us, but it is a beautiful story of hospitality. A family who live in a small house find themselves with an awful lot of unexpected visitors on Christmas Eve. They find everyone a place to sleep and the beautiful illustrations will have little ones discovering something new every time you look at the book. If you can find it at all this is definitely worth buying.
Religious Christmas Books
These books are about the reason people celebrate Christmas.
The Smallest Christmas Tree by Masahiro Kasuya , this one was a present to Emily from her friend Lena. We love the gentle watercolour illustrations.
A Single Star – An anthology of Christmas poetry – I put this book into the religious category because some of the poems in here are religious. They are a nice length to learn for little ones and a lot of them are about winter and special Christmas foods.
The Christmas Journey by Sally Fisher
Hanukkah Books
As you know we celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas. Hanukkah books are a lot harder to find over here, but we are always adding to our collection!
Hanukkah Lights – A Lift the Flap Book
Lots of Latkes : A Hanukkah Story
Our favourite book is Daddy Christmas and Hanukkah Mama because it is so relevant to our family, the family in the book celebrate a joyful mix of both holidays, with latkes for Santa’s reindeer and candy-canes hanging from Menorah branches.
For the rainy days full of reading I always like to have a few new books around, as you know we don’t have a TV, so stocking up on books during this time seems perfect.
Books for Rainy Days
Barkley Bulldog by Leonora Czarny
A Sudden Puff of Glittering Smoke by Anne Fine
Night, Night, Baby – a Rhyming Flap Book
Disney Princess Augmented Reality Book , Emily loves this book. The book itself has a brief description of each Rapunzel, Belle, Cinderella and Ariel as well as their story, but what Emily loves most about this book are the four Augmented Reality Trigger Cards that come with the book. You simply hold them up to a webcam and the cards let you magically join in the Princess fun. Decorate Rapunzel’s hair with flowers just by moving in front of the camera, use the card to catch lost treasures for Ariel, wear Cinderella’s jewellery which stays on you even as you move around and use the card to help Belle dance beautifully at the ball!
Another book Emily has been really enjoying is The Stage School Creativity Book, which is the perfect book for talented superstars.
Emily loves designing her own dresses to wear on the red carpet, do the personality tests and play with the sticker scenes. This book is full of activities to keep little ones busy and definitely not bored, even when they can’t play outside. My favourite part is the page for “Fan Mail” from best friends, grandparents and, of course, parents.
Emily loves the puzzles and mazes most.
What are you reading this Winter?
Have a lovely day!
We are still enjoying our autumnal books. Soon the advent and Christmas books will come out, but we won’t bring down our winter books until after 12th night. I’m looking forward to them though – I love wintry stories! We really like The Snowchild, too!
Thanks you so much! I’ve been looking for Christmas in Exeter Street for a really long time, about five years since I read it in the library but never took notice of the name! I’ve just found a second hand copy of this on amazon and I am buying it right now