The best Christmas books for children of all ages

In Acorn Wood the snow is coming down, and Squirrel plans to create a snowman! Lift the flaps to find out whether she and her friends can find everything they need. Created by cherished author/illustrator duo Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, this winter tale has plenty of rhymes and lovely images to bring festive cheer to little children.

A festive treat with bright, bold illustrations from the creator of Dear Zoo. With Dear Santa, little hands can unwrap a present on each page by lifting the flaps to discover what Santa has sent. This children’s Christmas book is a festive classic.

Join Mary and Joseph on their long journey to Bethlehem and see beautiful baby Jesus in his crib in this sturdy board book ideal for little hands. With gentle rhyming text and push, pull and slide tabs, toddlers will enjoy this story of the First Christmas.

Children will have fun playing with the push and pull mechanisms in Busy Reindeer, which tells the story of Ruby Reindeer who flies through the sky helping Santa deliver presents. With its rhyming story and bright, colourful illustrations, Busy Reindeer makes the perfect Christmas Eve bedtime story for babies and toddlers.

Join national treasure Baroness Floella Benjamin and illustrator Lydia Monks to learn some of our best-loved Christmas songs and hymns, including ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘Ding Dong Merrily on High’ in this new interactive picture and songbook. As well as beautiful illustrations, the book comes with a CD with each song sung by Floella Benjamin so your little one can listen to their favourites all season long! 

Introduce young children to the magic of Christmas traditions with Busy Christmas, an interactive Christmas board book for babies and toddlers. With something to push, pull or spin on every page and a fun festive rhyming story to read together, little ones can help Santa and his reindeer fly across the sky, snowmen grow bigger and sledges slide down slippery snow-filled slopes as they get ready for Christmas Day. 

Count down the days to Christmas with this collection of twenty-four mini books, featuring songs, activities and rhymes, all based on Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's much-loved classics The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, The Snail and the Whale and more. Sing, colour and play your way to Christmas day with this absorbing collection, which has brand new books for 2022. 

A Christmas picture book you’ll read time and again, What the Ladybird Heard at Christmas is the brand-new story in the bestselling series by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks. The little ladybird is off to visit her friend the spider, but her Christmas plans go awry when she hears that Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len are set to steal children’s Christmas stockings and all of their presents! Follow the charming and festive rhyming story to find out if, and how, she can stop their dastardly plan and save Christmas for everyone. 

Bestselling author Lucinda Riley and her son Harry Whittaker created this story together, and it begins on Christmas Eve, with the tree decorated, the presents wrapped and Grace waiting for her big day to begin. She is to sing in the nativity show, and her fisherman father has made a promise he will be back in time. But then a storm sweeps in, and when Grace goes on stage she cannot see her Dad in the audience. She starts to worry, but the Christmas Angel is there to help. Complete with an angel-ribbon marker, Grace and the Christmas Angel makes a special festive gift.

Illustrated by Axel Scheffler

When Santa sets off in his sleigh to deliver his presents, poor Bear is left behind. This charming and very funny picture book by Ian Whybrow follows Bear on his travels as he tries to get to Tom’s house in time for Christmas morning. Beautifully illustrated by Axel Scheffler,  this is a Christmas book full of fun.

This hilarious Christmas book for kids stars the wonderfully grumpy Gus. Gus doesn’t like carols, or cake, or Christmas jumpers. And he certainly doesn't like mistletoe. To Gus, a tree is only good for one thing, and it's not for hanging baubles on. Will Gus ever learn to love the festive season? 

Illustrated by Axel Scheffler

The classic story of adventure and friendship from Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler has been brought to life on BBC One in an animation starring Sally Hawkins, Rob Brydon, Cariad Lloyd and Dame Diana Rigg. This special festive edition of The Snail and the Whale is a brilliant Christmas stocking filler for fans of the tale.

This beautiful picture book will become a Christmas classic, and is the perfect gift for Moomin fans big and small. A stunningly illustrated retelling of Tove Jansson’s The Fir Tree, the Moomins wake up from their winter sleep to find that Christmas is coming – but the Moomins have no idea who, or what, Christmas is . . .

Illustrated by Mike Byrne

You thought having to eat them for Christmas dinner was terrible enough, but what could be worse than a mean, green sprout who hatches a dastardly plan to destroy Christmas! The fantastically funny sequel to Sproutzilla VS Christmas, this picture book will have the whole family laughing out loud this holiday season. These are brilliantly funny Christmas books for kids. 

Join Sunny the Meerkat on his search for a white Christmas in this interactive and heartwarming festive story from the creator of Meerkat Mail. This tale of family and festive fun is full of Christmas cards to read as you follow Sunny’s journey from the Kalahari desert as he looks for his perfect Christmas.

Illustrated by Kate Hindley

This festive mashup of two classic children’s books begins with Santa, not Alice, falling down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Join the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and a few of Santa's reindeer for a tea party and find out if Santa can charm the Queen of Hearts (who hates Christmas, naturally) and put the Merry back into Christmas in Wonderland. If you’re looking for a fun Christmas tale with a twist, here it is!

Join little Winston the mouse as he embarks on his mission to deliver a last-minute letter to Santa that got lost along the way. It’s packed with colourful illustrations and a different Christmas activity idea in every chapter: we recommend reading it together on Christmas Eve while you’re getting ready for Santa to stop by.

Get crafty this Christmas with Winston's festive activities for kids.

An ideal stocking filler for busy little hands this Christmas, the Dear Santa Sticker Activity Book is packed with festive-themed colouring pages, puzzles, spot-the-differences and over 200 colour stickers, all designed for early years children. Perfect for Christmas car journeys to see relatives, rainy days at home or to give as a gift to the little one in your life, this Christmas book for children is a must-have this holiday season. 

Introduce Clement C. Moore’s classic Christmas poem to a new generation in this beautiful picture book, illustrated by Eric Puybaret. Follow the story from the house with its stockings ‘hung by the chimney with care’, up onto the roof where Santa’s reindeer are poised to take him on the next leg of his journey delivering presents, all shown in rich, full-colour illustrations. The book is accompanied by a CD, which features three songs from the story for you to play and sing along to. 

Twit Twoo! It’s Christmas time for owls too! In this charming picture book, based on an extraordinary true story, one family gets a huge surprise as they wake up one morning to find an expected visitor snuggled up in their Christmas tree! With its heartwarming story and detailed illustrations, The Owl Who Came For Christmas is a fun, festive story for the whole family to read together.

The Twelve Days of Christmas: Or Grandma is Overly Generous is a witty new take on the festive classic The Twelve Days of Christmas, accompanied by beautiful full-colour illustrations. In this gorgeous gift book Grandma's presents start off sensibly – a partridge is easy enough to take care of – but her generosity soon gets wildly out of hand . . .

Illustrated by Sergio Olivotti

This hilarious and heartwarming Christmas book for kids aged six to eight sees Santa find the perfect second job – as a bin man! Santa finds plenty of gifts hidden amongst the rubbish, and soon he’s back on his sleigh delivering recycled gifts. 

Illustrated by Lydia Monks 

In this chapter book for young readers, magically mischievous Mirror-Belle comes popping out of the mirror to sweep Ellen into two hilarious Christmassy escapades – from joining in with the Christmas ballet show to attending Ellen's friend's fancy-dress party and trying to catch Father Christmas!

Illustrated by Kate Pankhurst

A funny festive story collection for young readers, The Real Family Christmas will get everyone in the holiday spirit. Featuring three stories about the Christmas family and their hilarious escapades, it will have independent readers laughing out loud at these fun Christmas stories.

This beautiful collection is full of verses that will transport you to sparkling winter scenes, with poems for Christmas, New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day. The poems are selected from Allie Esiri’s bestselling poetry anthologies A Poem for Every Day of the Year and A Poem for Every Night of the Year, including poems by  Mary Oliver, Edgar Allan Poe, Thomas Hardy, E. E. Cummings, Robert Burns, Joseph Coelho, George the Poet, Benjamin Zephaniah and Jackie Kay. 

Illustrated by Axel Scheffler

This collection of classic and contemporary Christmas poems celebrates everything about the festive season, from snow and stockings to the Nativity story. Why not take it in turns to pick a poem to read as a poetry advent calendar of sorts in the run-up to the big day?

The story about a thoroughly modern family from bestselling author Emma Donoghue. In The Lotterys More or Less, nine-year-old Sumac is determined to make sure all of the family’s Christmas traditions are upheld. But from uninvited guests to weird weather and mysterious power cuts, it seems like everything is against the Lotterys having a ‘normal’ family Christmas.

A collection of three festive stories from Eva Ibbotson. In the first story – 'Vicky and the Christmas Angel' – a young Viennese girl discovers, to her horror, who really brings the children's presents at Christmas.

Curated by former Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell, this classic and contemporary Christmas poetry collection is the perfect addition to any young reader’s bookshelf this festive season. Alongside traditional Christmas verses are poems by contemporary writers and poets, including Neil Gaiman, Hollie McNish, Benjamin Zephaniah and Jackie Kay.