31 Days of Holiday Read Alouds - Week 4

Note: You can download a calendar with all the books for the month at the bottom of this page. I looked for books that were awesome and also easily accessible - I'm pretty sure I found all but one as read alouds on YouTube and, all books are available for purchase on Amazon and other book retailers, and I was able to find most of them at my public library.

1. "The Wild Christmas Reindeer" by Jan Brett

This is the last Jan Brett book on this list, promise! I can't help it! "The Wild Christmas Reindeer" tells the story of little Teeka who is trying to get the reindeer ready for Christmas. She tries being firm and bossy, but her yelling only gets the reindeer into a tangled mess! Will she find a better method before Christmas Eve? (This is a great reminder to all us parents out there who sometimes forget and think that being firm and bossy is the best way to raise our children...but those strategies don't usually tend to work so well in the end.)

2. "A Christmas Spider's Miracle" by Trinka Hakes Noble and Stephen Costanza

This story is based on a beautiful Ukrainian folktale that I grew up hearing - and why there is always a spiderweb ornament on our Christmas tree! A poor peasant mother wants to give her children a magical Christmas, but she has very little. She goes to the forest to get a small tree and doesn't realize there's a family living in it! The mother spider sees a kindred soul just trying to provide for and love her family and spends the night spinning beautiful web decorations for the tree. In the morning the tree sparkles and shines! 

3. "La Noche Buena: A Christmas Story" by Antonio Sacre and Angela Dominguez

This story is about a little girl who is accustomed to spending Christmas in snowy New England with her mom's family but is going down to hot Miami to spend Christmas with her Cuban father and his family. At first she's very disappointed that Christmas won't be like normal, but as she starts getting involved with preparations and celebrations, she learns that different does not have to be bad.

4. "Room for a Little One" by Martin Waddell and Jason Cockcroft

This is our favorite nativity story! This story is told from the animals' perspective who, unlike all the people living in Bethlehem, gladly make room for Mary and Joseph and welcome little Jesus into the world. For me, it's not only a sweet story about the birth of Jesus, but a nice reminder that all the amazing animals in this world deserve our care and respect.

5. "Together for Kwanzaa" by Juwanda G. Ford and Shelly Hehenberger

This is a great story to introduce you to the African-American holiday of Kwanzaa and the seven principles which are celebrated during the 7-days of festivities. 

6. "My First Kwanzaa" by Karen Katz

This is another cute story which introduces you to the holiday and traditions of Kwanzaa. This story is better suited for younger children as it explains things simply and clearly.

7. "Seven Spools of Thread" by Angela Shelf Medearis and Daniel Minter

This book waves the seven principles of Kwanzaa into a story that reads like an old African folktale. There are seven brothers whose fighting makes life miserable! When their father dies, his will states that they have until sundown to turn 7 spools of thread into gold or they will be denied their inheritance. Will the brothers figure out how to work together?

If you want to keep track of which books you've read and look ahead to the rest of the month, download our printable Holiday Read Aloud Calendar - December 2021. And if you're looking for some fun activities to do as a family this month, check out the Holiday Activity Calendar.

I hope you and your family have lots of cozy cuddly story time this holiday season!

31 Days of Holiday Read Alouds: