Christmas books for children

With Christmas approaching, I am missing being at the elementary school to read all the great Christmas books out there! Here are some of my favorites. What are some of yours?

• The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett     

   Jan Brett uses her wonderful talent for details to create her own version of Santa's Winter Farm. A young elf must get the reindeer ready for Christmas Eve and runs into problems. This book is magical, but be prepared to answer the question of why Rudolph is not included.

• The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie DePaola

I love Tomie DePaola's artwork in here and the message is very good too.

• Santa's Book of Names by David McPhail

A great encourager for struggling readers, since the main character has not quite made the jump into reading. His mother keeps saying "Patience" but of course Santa helps him with the leap.

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

I'm not sure if movies help out classic books or not, but it is fun to read this to kids who have the movie memorized, since many lines from the book are in the Jim Carrey version. It is amazing how fresh and funny this book is after 50 years.

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

This series is technically young adult, but I enjoyed it so much, I wanted to add it here. Imagine a game such as Survivor, but played with children and teens and the fighting is to the death. Add into that a corrupt government that manipulates the entire setting of the Games and has playbacks each evening on TV. Although the futuristic premise seems preposterous, the characters are so realistic, I felt I as if they had become my friends. Ms. Collins also make some thought provoking statements regarding war and its effects on those who live through years of fighting. These books are pretty intense, with some violence (although handled well) and mature subject matter. I would not recommend them for under 8th grade, but for everyone else, I highly recommend them! Plus there is a love trilogy that will keep you  guessing right up until the last chapter. A movie is also in the works.