Children's Christmas Books

Over at 5 Minutes for Books, the Children's Classics carnival is about Christmas books for children.

On Wednesday mornings, I read to my daughter's second grade class. Last week, I read 2 Christmas books to them.

The first one was 'Twas the Night: The Nativity Story by Melody Carlson. This book is great to read aloud. It is written in the cadence of "The Night Before Christmas". It is the story of Jesus' birth from the point of view of the animals in the stable. The illustrations by Susan Reagan are very well done. I think that this book will become a yearly tradition to read out loud with our family. It is recommended for 5 and up.

The second book was Spunky's First Christmas. This book was adapted from a video that was based on a character created by Janette Oke. This story is about a puppy named Spunky. Spunky gets adopted by a boy named Mark. Mark and Spunky have a lot of fun together until Spunky gets lost. As he is looking for his master, he sees a window with a picture of a man with a dog and several sheep. He goes into the church and there is a Christmas pageant going on. Spunky ends up on the stage barking with excitement. Mark rushes in because he heard Spunky barking. Spunky was so happy to have found his master again.

The second graders liked both books. I think that they enjoyed the second book the most. They were very engaged with the story and very concerned when Spunky was lost. They cheered when Mark found Spunky.