Skip to main content

Five Faves: For Celebrating Christmas... in July

 Looking to celebrate Christmas in July? Here are five books to get you in the holiday spirit: 

The Christmas Owl 
Written by Ellen Kalish and Gideo Sterer 
Illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki 
New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2021. Picture Book.

Little Owl ends up on an adventure when her home, a tree in the country, is cut down to be the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. She learns what Christmas is all about on her journey to find her home!  

Poem by Clement Clark Moore 
Illustrated by Mr. Boddington’s Studio 
New York : Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2021. Picture Book. 

After everyone is asleep on Christmas Eve, St. Nicholas travels from home-to-home delivering toys and filling stockings. Mr. Boddington’s Studio does a wonderful job pairing bright illustrations with the well-known poem by Clement Clarke Moore.   

Dasher 
By Matt Tavares 
Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2019. Picture Book. 

Dasher and her family are part of a traveling circus. Her mother shares stories of being free in the snow under the North Star and Dasher finds herself longing for that life.  Seizing an opportunity to escape, she uses the North Star as a guide and finds Santa and his sleigh along the way. 
 
By Chris Van Allsburg 
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985. Picture Book. 

The Polar Express shows up outside of the boy’s house on Christmas Eve and takes him to the North Pole. He’s chosen to receive the first gift for Christmas. Once back on the train, he realizes it’s fallen out of his pocket. He returns home, saddened to have lost such a special gift. But, not all hope is lost. Christmas morning, he wakes up and finds an extra present left underneath the tree.  

Written by Barbara Joosse  
Illustrated by Renee Graef 
Ann Arbor, MI: Sleeping Bear Press, 2021. Picture Book.

A man’s family grows alongside a beautiful spruce tree he planted as a little boy. Near the end of its life, it's taken to the city to be its Christmas Tree. After being strung with lights and ornaments, all of the people gather around for the lighting of the tree.  

Comments

Anonymous said…
Yes I love christmas;)

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Fowl Play

  Fowl Play By Kristin O'Donnell Tubb New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2024. Fiction 277 pages. Still reeling from her beloved uncle's death, Chloe Alvarez is comforted and confused when at his last will and testament reading, Uncle Will gifts her his African Grey parrot, Charlie. Charlie has a robust vocabulary and loves to make Alexa requests for her favorite songs, but when she starts saying things like, "homicide," and "cyanide," Chloe becomes convinced that Uncle Will may have met his demise by murder instead of a genetic disease, as was previously thought. Ultimately, bringing in her brother, Grammy, and Uncle Frank (and of course Charlie,) Chloe's ragtag and adoring family support her search for answers ---going on stakeouts, engaging in fast pursuits, and searching for clues. But as the suspects stack up and the mystery grows, Chole will learn that the process of death and grieving is complicated, and in the end her Uncle Will's words that, ...

Review: Alice with a Why

Alice with a Why By Anna James New York: Penguin, 2026. Fiction. 240 pgs. In 1919, in the aftermath of the first World War, Alyce is living with her grandmother in the English countryside. Her grandmother, also named Alice, tells Alyce (with a y) stories from her childhood adventures in a wonderful land filled with white rabbits and mad hatters. Alyce doesn't really believe the silly stories, she just misses her father who was killed in the war. One day, Alyce receives a mysterious invitation to tea, and subsequently falls into a pond where she is transported to Wonderland. Her grandmother, of course, is that Alice. Alyce is prompted by the Mad Hatter, Dormouse, and March Hare to seek out the Time Being and put an end to the war between the Sun King and the Queen of the Moon. Thus begins Alyce's adventure through Wonderland. I have a certain soft spot for the original story of Alice in Wonderland. It is one of my particular favorites and I often have a hard time reading new int...

Review: Blood in the Water

Blood in the Water By Tiffany D. Jackson New York: Scholastic, 2025. Fiction. 255 pages. 12-year-old Kaylani McKinnon can't help but feel like a fish out of water. She's a Brooklyn girl spending her summer on Martha's Vineyard surrounded by wealthy family friends in their mansion. All she really wants is to stay home all summer where she her incarcerated father can easily reach her, and she can keep working to find ways to prove him innocent of fraud and embezzlement. Despite her protests, she finds herself on the island with the snooty granddaughters of her host. Soon after Kaylani's arrival, a popular teen boy is found murdered and she decides to conduct her own investigation. As she tries to discover what happened to Chadwick Cooper, Kaylani finds that not everything on Martha's Vineyard is as perfect as it appears. Thrillers for middle grade readers can be hard to find, but Tiffany D. Jackson succeeds in her first middle grade novel. A quick moving plot, tight d...