Christmas books

What We’re Reading–Christmas 2012–Christmas in England

Last year, I shared a list of books we’d be using in “Christmas School.” Some of those books won’t be repeated this year (especially anything American Santa heavy), as the theme is different, and I’ve also added a few books, mainly to go along with this year’s focus on Christmas in England:

  • Letters from Father Christmas–Yes, it’s a Santa book, but it’s also something of a Tolkien classic, and quite timely, as Turkey and Bunny have both recently read The Hobbit.
  • A Child’s Christmas in Wales–This classic will be added to our permanent collection.
  • The Christmas Bird–I haven’t been able to determine if this legend originated in England, or if it’s just popular there, but robins at Christmastime appear to be a British custom.
  • An Edwardian Christmas–This is a tiny little picture book, but the pictures are beautiful, and show what Christmas was like in England at that time.
  • The Oxford Book of Christmas Poems
  • Father Christmas and the Donkey
  • Victorian Christmas–Technically, this book is about Christmas in America, but it shows how England influenced American Christmas celebrations, so decided to include it.
  • Christmas in England
  • A Christmas Carol–A classic that’s been in our family library for years, but is especially appropriate for this year’s English Christmas theme…it will be our main read-aloud.
  • A Christmas Dinner–Another Christmas book by Charles Dickens
  • The Jolly Christmas Postman–Another Santa book, but the Jolly Postman seems to be very popular in England, so it must be included.
  • Christmas in the Trenches–This book was already in our library, but as it focuses on the temporary truce between British and German soldiers during WWI, it has a special place in school this year.
  • The Lion Storyteller Christmas Book–While this anthology has stories from all over the world, it’s printed by a British publisher, so I thought it fit the year’s theme.
  • The Christmas Tale of Peter Rabbit–Not written by Beatrix Potter herself, but inspired by her farm.
  • How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas–Even though this series is about the origin of the Santa stories, I really like the books. This one focuses primarily on the Puritans in America, as well as the English Parliament’s interference with Christmas celebrations.
  • Christmas in Williamsburg–This is another book that focuses on Christmas in America, but we’ll specifically looking at the colonial period, when America was still under British rule.

We’ll also be using our book basket time to read all of the other many Christmas books we love!

What We’re Reading–Christmas

Last year, I posted a list of books we read for our “Christmas in American History” unit. I decided to re-organize that list of books, removing some that we don’t normally read, and adding a few new ones for this year. Later, I’ll be creating a seperate list, which will contain the books we’re using this year for “Christmas in England,” but won’t necessarily use on a yearly basis.

Biblical/Religious Storybooks

Christmas in America

Nutcracker Read-Alouds

Book Basket Books–(These are any Christmas books we happened to have in the house, some from past “Christmas Around the World” units, and some from previous curriculum, or just for fun!)

Winter Books (As long as winter begins during the Christmas season, I’ll include the books we always read on the first day of winter)

What We’re Reading–Christmas 2011–Christmas Throughout American History

“Christmas School” is always an important part of the school year around here. We spend two to three weeks annually, learning about Christmas customs and traditions, reading Christmas books, and making Christmas crafts. Our handwriting, copywork, dictation, and memory work assignments are also always Christmas related, usually in the form of Bible passages. We still do our regular math, as well as Latin review, but pretty much everything else is Christmas-themed.

This year, instead of the focus being on “Christmas Around the World” as it has been for the last three years, we’re looking at “Christmas Through American History,” (since we’re studying American history this year). It has been a little more challenging putting together a book list this time around, because it’s harder to pinpoint specific parts of American history through Christmas literature. I think it’s turned out OK, though, and we’re having a great time reading some fantastic books!

Read-Alouds–Organized by the year in which the story is set and/or the year in which it was written/published.

Nutcracker Read-Alouds

Biblical/Religious Storybooks

Book Basket Books–(These are any Christmas books we happened to have in the house, some from past “Christmas Around the World” units, and some from previous curriculum, or just for fun!)

*These books are more Santa-heavy than I would usually allow, but they are either culturally relevant to American history, (such as The Night Before Christmas and Yes, Virginia: There is a Santa Claus, which are poems/stories everyone should be familiar with), or good at telling part of American history, (like How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas, which deals with Christmas in the New World).