Bear Stays Up for Christmas

We love the Bear series by Karma Wilson. And this one is one of my favorites in the series.

Bears, of course, hibernate in the winter. But Bear's friends come over to his cave to help him stay up for Christmas this year. Bear's pretty sleepy, but his friends sing carols, bake, and do other fun Christmas activities to help their friend stay awake. When Bear's friends each fall asleep, Bear stays up and makes Christmas presents for them. And then, Bear gets a little surprise visit from a jolly visitor.

The Bear series of books uses some vocabulary that's a little advanced for smaller kids, but the pictures help tell the story. This book is also secular, but it does celebrate friendship and giving.

Bear Stays Up for Christmas
Written by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman
Age range*: 4-7
My rating: 4 stars [out of five]

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--the books are usually just checked out from the local library.

Cock-a-doodle Christmas!

We loved this book. Little Boy asked my husband to read it to him every night for at least a week.

Cock-a-doodle Christmas! takes place in Bethlehem. A little rooster named Harold has to take over crowing duty when Old Rooster retires, but Harold just can't crow loudly enough to wake the other animals. Then one night, a couple comes to the barn, a miraculous baby is born, and Harold is so happy that he crows more loudly than he ever has before.

I like that this story has elements of the religious Christmas story in it, and it celebrates Christ's birth, but it also has a fun little story to go along with it.

Cock-a-doodle Christmas!
Written and illustrated by Will Hillenbrand
Age range*: 3-7
My rating: 5 stars [out of five]

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--the books are usually just checked out from the local library.

Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas

Here's another story about Fletcher. (We read Fletcher and the Falling Leaves a few months ago.)

This time, he's worried that Santa won't be able to find his friends, the rabbits, on Christmas Eve because they've moved to a new burrow. So he makes little arrows out of sticks and lays them on the ground from the old burrow to the new one. Ta-da! Now when Santa arrives and finds no rabbits, he can follow the trail to the rabbits' new home.

But then, Christmas morning, Fletcher wakes up and finds that snow has fallen and covered up all of his arrows! He runs to the rabbits' new burrow in a panic, and finds that Santa has found the rabbits' new home all on his own. Yay!

Sweet little Christmas story. I like Fletcher (love the illustrations). The Fletcher books use vocabulary that's a little tougher than I'd usually choose for this age group, but the context and illustrations communicate the story very well.

Fletcher and the Snowflake ChristmasWritten by Julia Rawlinson, illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke
Age range*: 3-7
My rating: 4 stars [out of five]

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--the books are usually just checked out from the local library.

The Christmas Giant

This one's a lot like A Christmas Tree for Pyn, in that it's about a big person, a small person, and a Christmas tree. The Christmas Giant's illustrations are almost as cute, but it doesn't have the family bonding that the other book does. I think this one's quite a bit easier for smaller kids to follow, though.

So. There's this giant, Humphrey. And there's his elf friend, Leetree. They're in charge of making all of the wrapping paper for Santa's workshop, and they do a great job. Then one year, Santa asks them to grow the huge Christmas tree for Christmastown next year. Humphrey and Leetree spend all year growing an excellent tree, then they package it up and start their journey to give the tree to Santa. But...that doesn't exactly go as planned, and they're left with no tree for Christmas. What will they do?! Don't worry, they come up with a creative solution, and Christmastown gets a tree after all.

I liked this story, but I didn't love it. It's not quite as magical as some of the other books we've read. It's still a nice little Christmas-y story, though.

The Christmas GiantWritten and illustrated by Steve Light
Age range*: 4-6
My rating: 3 stars [out of five]

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--the books are usually just checked out from the local library.

Babar and Father Christmas

I have a confession to make: I didn't grow up reading Babar.

I know. It's like I didn't have a childhood.

Anyway, as an adult I've read two stories about Babar: the first Babar story, and Babar and Father Christmas. In Babar and Father Christmas, Babar's children hear that a magical being called Father Christmas visits human children--but why doesn't he visit elephant children? Babar is an excellent king and father, so he sets off to speak to Father Christmas and hopefully persuade him to come to Elephant Land (or wherever it is that Babar lives). Father Christmas can't come, but he inspires Babar to be Father Christmas in his place. Ta-da! Best elephant Christmas ever.

There are a couple of things about Babar stories, including this one, that make them interesting. One is that they were written in the 1930s. The second is that they were written in French, and then translated to English. Put the two together, and you get text that sounds a bit different from the storybooks of today. I, personally, think it's kind of charming.

The only downside to Babar and Father Christmas is that it's l-o-o-ng. Read it to a child who has a good attention span, or maybe just read a little of it at a time. Some kids might have questions about words or phrases that sound different from today's English, but I don't think that's a bad thing.

Babar and Father ChristmasWritten and illustrated by Jean de Brunhoff
Age range*: 3-6
My rating: 5 stars [out of five]

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--the books are usually just checked out from the local library.

A Christmas Tree for Pyn

This is a nice Christmas story from the author of the Gossie and Gertie series [some of which I love, and some of which I don't]. Pyn lives in the mountains with her father, Oother. He's gruff and bearlike--he doesn't like for Pyn to call him "Papa"--just "Oother." It's not that he doesn't love Pyn, it's just that he's embarrassed by affection.

Pyn decides that this year, she wants a Christmas tree like the ones down in the village. She sets off by herself to find one and gets herself in a bit of trouble, but Oother finds her. They bring home a tree, and Pyn decorates it with bits and pieces that she's been gathering all year--birds' nests, that kind of thing. Oother sees what she's done and pulls out a bird ornament that had belonged to Pyn's mother. They admire their tree and Oother finally lets Pyn call him "Papa."

This is really more of a father/daughter story than a Christmas story--the tree is the only Christmas-y thing in it. It's a bit on the long side, so I'd definitely recommend it for kids with a good attention span. The story's not religious at all, but it still celebrates Christmas in a way that isn't about presents or Santa Claus.

A Christmas Tree for Pyn
Written and illustrated by Olivier Dunrea
Age range*: 5-7
My rating: 3 stars [out of five]

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--the books are usually just checked out from the local library.