30 of the Best Children's Christmas Picture Books

Christmas is coming! I love everything about this time of year, the lights, music, ornaments, movies and of course the books. Here are 30 of the best Christmas picture books for children.

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Classic Christmas Books

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr Seuss: This is a recent discovery for us. I do love using books as a gateway into getting the girls to watch new things as otherwise we would still have Frozen on repeat. The Grinch is a great way to teach your kids about the Christmas Spirit.

Santa’s Toy Shop by Al Dempster: First of all it’s a Golden Book, who doesn’t love Golden Books? This is a Christmas book I remember from my childhood and those are always the best to share with your kids.

The Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore: This classic poem is one that everyone needs in their collection, and the artwork in this book is great.

The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia Scarry: I had this book growing up and I think I wore out the scratch & sniff. This one brings back great memories for me and was so excited to have it to share with my kids too.

Christmas Tree Books

Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini: The best moose dad who works to make Christmas perfect, except he forgets the Christmas tree! Such a silly and fun book.

Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner: What to snowmen do at night when it’s Christmas time? Why celebrate themselves! Decorating their tree, playing games and waiting for Santa.

The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever by Steven Kroll: We enjoy all the Biggest Ever books and this one is no exception. Clayton and Desmond are on the search for the Biggest Christmas Tree Ever and they end up finding it together.

The Broken Ornament by Tony DiTerlizzi: This book is definitely one that will tug at your heartstrings. What happens when one of moms special ornaments gets broken?

The Christmas Giant by Steve Light: The Christmas Giant creates all the wrapping paper for Santa, but gets asked to be in charge of the Christmas tree for Chrstmas town. This is one of my favorites that we discovered this year.

He Sees You When You’re Sleeping…Santa Claus Books

Albert’s Christmas by Leslie Tryon: Santa has to take a pit stop and Albert and his fellow animal friends are on the job!

Frozen Olaf’s Night Before Christmas by Disney Book Group: The combination of the silliness of Olaf, Christmas and a classic story. Definitely one you need if you have any Frozen lovers in your household.

Here Comes Santa Cat by Deborah Underwood: These cat books, I’m so glad one of my coworkers told me about them! We started with the tooth fairy but they are all equally adorable.

The 12 Sleighs of Christmas by Sherri Duskey Rinker: Uh-oh, Santa’s sleigh is in rough shape. So the elves come up with some alternative sleigh designs and boy are they fun!!

The Berenstain Bears’ Night Before Christmas by Mike Berenstain: The Night Before Christmas with a Berenstain Bears touch to it. Berenstain Bears were my husbands childhood favorites and the girls are just starting to appreciate them!

The Holiday Heroes Save Christmas by Adam Wallace: Santa is sick and the fate of Christmas is up to our other Holiday helpers! This book is so cute watching the Halloween witch (is this the Switch Witch?), the Tooth Fairy, the Leprechaun and the Easter Bunny make Christmas happen is so fun.

The Polar Bear who Saved Christmas by Fiona Boon: Santa’s Reindeer need help to pull Santa’s sleigh and a Polar Bear steps in to help.

The Pups Save Christmas by Golden Books: Golden books are always our favorite and add Paw Patrol and Christmas? This book is very cute if your kiddos love the problem solving pups.

Christmas Gifts

Bear Stays Up For Christmas by Karma Wilson: Bear’s friends want him to experience Christmas as he is always asleep at Christmas time!

Charlie and the Christmas Kitty by Ree Drummond: This was our first Charlie the Ranch Dog a few years ago and we were smitten. Charlie is always cute and the new kitty on the ranch causes some interesting challenges for him.

Howard B Wigglebottom and the Power of Giving by Howard Binkow: Howard loves his toys, and loves getting more and more toys. This Christmas he learns that helping others is so much better than getting more things.

My Penguin Osbert by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel: Joe has always wanted a penguin, and Santa finally gives him one….but is it really what he wanted?

The Biggest Smallest Christmas Present by Harriet Muncaster: Clementine is a teeny-tiny girl who always gets presents for an average sized girl from Santa. She finally receives the best present ever. One of our other favorite discoveries of the year.

The Christmas Extravaganza Hotel by Tracey Corderoy: Frog makes a mistake with his map and tries to go to a hotel but ends up with Bear. They end up having the best Christmas ever. This might be on the top of my Christmas favorites after stumbling on this one this year.

The Not Very Merry Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen: It took us a while to jump on the Pout-Pout Fish train, but I’m so glad we did! All the books in this series are adorable and this one didn’t disappoint. Pout-Pout Fish discovers he doesn’t have to BUY gifts to give the perfect one.

Interactive Christmas Books

Christmas Songs by Holly Berry-Byrd: My kids play with this one year-round! Not just the songs, which they now know even better and sing along, but the Santa button tells you “Ho-Ho-Ho!” which makes Sadie giggle every time.

Dear Santa by Rod Campbell: The same author who wrote Dear Zoo, this book shows us fun flaps for your kids with gifts of all shapes and sizes behind them.

Disney Junior Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mickey’s Rockin’ Christmas by Phoenix International Publications: Let’s face it, my children are suckers for music books. This one is fun because the guitar is removable. More upbeat versions to the Christmas songs your kids have fallen in love with.

Jingle Bells by Jill Howarth: We love Jingle Bells, and with actual bells on the book it’s so much easier and more fun to sing!

Jingle Bugs by David A. Carter: Oh pop-up books, you cause us such worry! My kids love the bugs books. Do they have pieces taped back together? Yes…but they love them.

Roly Poly Looks for Santa Claus by Nosy Crow: These chunky sliding tabs that give you peek-a-boo moments are perfect for little hands! I’m a big fan of all these books.

Do you have any traditions that revolve around books at the holidays? What books would you add to this list? Do you have any of these already or any books already wrapped under your tree?

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