This weeks Top Ten Topic is favorite holiday books. Sadly, I know very little about holiday themed books for adults, since I find most of them incredibly cheesy. Sentimentality for the sake of sentimentality is not really my thing. However, I'm also a teacher, which therefore gives me an out to focus my list on children's books! (With the exception of Dickens-I mean really, it's Scrooge!)
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas-do I really need to explain?
A Christmas Carol-again, pretty self-explanatory, no?
Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins-This is one that I use with my students every year. They love the story of the goblins, and how Herschel tricked them into lighting the menorah.
The Polar Express-Chris Van Allsberg's trip to the North Pole is a delight!
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe-OK, not technically a holiday book, but it has Father Christmas in it, and I got the entire set for Christmas in 1981 when I was in sixth grade, so it feels like Christmas to me. I read all seven books before going back to school in January. If I could go back to one time in my life and relive it, it might be that week, wrapped in my quilt reading about Narnia on my bed, safe and warm with my parents in the next room.
Little House in the Big Woods-The Christmas chapter is one of my favorites. I'm not sure anything brought home to me at 8 how different my world was from Laura's like reading about how excited she was to get an orange for Christmas.
Well, I guess my Top Ten turned into my Top Six, but I'm alright with that. I've gotten a peek at next week's theme, and I'll be able to make up for it then! Happy Thanksgiving!
I loved the Little House series and some day I am going to read the Narnia series too. Sometimes when you go back and read these books as an adult you appreciate them a little more than when you were a kid....
ReplyDeleteWhat grade(s) do you teach? I think you have a marvelous list here with a few books no one else has mentioned. My family loves to read Christmas stories so I had a hard time picking, though my favorites are very obvious. I read them every year.
ReplyDelete-Anne
Thank you for sharing these. Take a look at my list, if you are a teacher. You might like Yoon, if you don't know it. I found it thoughtful.
ReplyDeleteHere is my list of Top Ten Books to Read During the Holidays.
I have never heard of "Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins" before. This sounds right up my alley. Thanks so much for the tip!
ReplyDelete