Since my kids don’t read this Substack, I think I can safely share a few Christmas spoilers here:
For the Littles
Dozens of Doughnuts by Carrie Finison
I snatched this up from the library sales stack - the same copy I’ve checked out (and kept overdue!) countless times. This book has good rhythm to the writing and division skills; there’s also the concept of being a good hostess (which may mean sharing donuts) and in being a good guest (which may mean not eating all of your hostesses food). My 6 year old especially loves this book.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
I gave this to the kids early—I don’t love ALL Dr. Seuss, but this one has some fun wordplay (“stuffed it up the chimbly”), engaging illustrations, and is simply a classic. We checked this one out the whole month of December last year, so I thought it was time to go ahead and spend the five dollars. (Sidenote: Seuss wrote this when he was 53—in the book he mentions the Grinch is 53 years old!)
The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett and Cinders a Chicken Cinderella by Jan Brett
I have been wanting to expand my Jan Brett collection—I love her illustrations and she tends to cover classic fairy tales (with a twist). I’ve had my eye on these for a while—especially Chicken cinderella because Chickens are hilarious, and it’s cute to see them all dressed up in finery!
For my Husband:
Every Psalm Psalter by Poor Bishop Hooper
Poor Bishop Hooper has recorded a song for every Psalm—EVERY PSALM!—and this year they released a Psalter for those who may want to play and sing those Psalms in their church (because why wouldn’t you want to? God gifted us with a songbook!). Bryan is a fan (and friend!) of the band, so he’s been wanting this book since before it came out. The band is accepting donations only for the Psalter, but if you buy it for $40, they donate a copy to someone who cannot afford one. Plus, this is just about as pretty as a book comes!
For the Family — OK, for Myself!:
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (illustrated by the author edition)
We’ve been reading the Hobbit as a family (review forthcoming) and my copy was somehow way overdue, so naturally I needed to buy a copy, right? And I could have bought a $3 copy but…I’m just in love with this book, so I gifted myself a beautiful copy:
One of my thoughts for building our home library from henceforth is to only buy beautiful copies of books—for a long time, when we were moving around a lot, I favored paperbacks for cheapness/ease of moving, but now that we are more settled, I’m going for the prettiest versions I can find. (Also, I detest book jackets, so I toss them and let my books go bare—this book is equally beautiful naked!
(If anyone feels led in their heart to buy me the entire rest of this series, I’ll write you a thank you note in Elvish!)
What books are you giving as Christmas presents this year?
For the past couple of years, I've put together a "book box" as a Christmas gift for each of my boys. Milo's book box this year includes: a lift-the flap version of "The Snowman" by Raymond Briggs, "The Story Orchestra: Learn 8 Easy Pieces of Classical Music" (with a built-in piano), and a lift-the-flap book called "Cat Family Christmas." Linus' book box this year includes: "Garfield Complete Works: Volume 2," "Make Your Own Board Game: Designing, Building, and Playing an Original Tabletop Game," and the first book in a series called "The Amazing Tales of Max and Liz" (about a dog and a cat who go on Bible-themed adventures, as far as I can tell).
That version of The Hobbit looks lovely. I want the LOTR illustrated edition! I love Jan Brett books.
I am just realizing that I bought ZERO books for my children for Christmas. Epic fail.