The volume of post arriving to the Crow’s Nest has risen rather dramatically over the past week – not because of a sudden flurry of submissions (though we’re still receiving plenty of those)… but because we’ve all been doing our Christmas shopping. I think I’m giving books to almost everyone this year – and it occurred to me today that, although we’ve written here before about different Christmas traditions, we’ve never done a proper blog post about our favourite Christmas books.
We have a fair few of our own by now. The picture at the top of this post is of The Snowman’s Journey, the rhyming picture book based on the John Lewis Christmas television advert that we made instantly (along with the knitted version of the snowman, made by Louise’s mum!)
You can order The Snowman’s Journey online here.
This year we also published Snow Bunny’s Christmas Wish by Rebecca Harry – a very satisfying, warm and fuzzy Christmas story with foil on every page.
You can order Snow Bunny’s Christmas Wish online here.
We’ve also published Just Right for Christmas this year – the first paperback edition of our acclaimed Christmas tale celebrating the joy of giving, with wonderful illustrations by Rosalind Beardshaw and a gentle rhyming story by Birdie Black.
You can order Just Right for Christmas online here.
The most recent Pip and Posy book, Pip and Posy: The Snowy Day by Axel Scheffler, may not be explicitly Christmassy, but it’s filled with snow and very festive.
You can order Pip and Posy: The Snowy Day online here.
And for older readers, the fifth book in the Olivia series by Lyn Gardner, Olivia’s Winter Wonderland, is also very Christmassy. You can read the first chapter below.
You can order Olivia’s Winter Wonderland online here.
I asked everyone here for some of their all-time favourite Christmas books as well, and here were some of the suggestions:
Imogen nominated The Jolly Christmas Postman by Janet and Allan Ahlberg.
Louise suggested The Box of Delights by John Masefield.
For very young readers, Camilla suggested The Christmas Book by Dick Bruna.
Adrian is adamant that the ONLY possible candidate for the title of Best Christmas Book Ever is The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden.
There were lots of votes for both The Snowman and Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs.
And I think my pick is A Christmas Carol by Dickens – though some of my favourite festive stories aren’t books, and when I think of Christmas, I also think of The Nutcracker, It’s A Wonderful Life and A Charlie Brown Christmas.
What are your favourite Christmas stories? What have we left off our list? Do let us know on Twitter or in the comments!
