One of my favorite parts of the holiday is curling up with the kids and reading Christmas stories together – some old classics that I’ve known since I was a little girl ; other new stories that are fun & exciting for the whole family.

I recently got the opportunity to review a whole slew of Christmas books from the Penguin Young Readers Group and I wanted to tell you about our favorites of the bunch and one other book that is being requested regularly at our house.

A Christmas Tree for Pyn by Olivier Dunrea is the story of little Pyn who wants more than anything to have a Christmas Tree this year like everyone else, but her papa Oother refuses… at first. This story was a lot of fun to read out loud and the kids really enjoyed it. The illustrations are adorable and I love the idea of a picture book featuring a single father.

The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore and illustrations by Jan Brett is a classic that you just need to own. This edition features gorgeous illustrations to accompany the well known story that we’ve all heard growing up. Of course the kids loved it and Dan and I really enjoyed reading it aloud to them.

Twelve Days of Christmas by Laurel Long is another classic story from my childhood and this edition’s illustrations seriously blew me away. You might find yourself singing along to this story as you read, in between gazing at all the gorgeous pictures.

The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers by Lisa Cambell Ernst is a terrifically fun story to read aloud with lots of repetition so your kids can memorize certain parts and then repeat them throughout the book – something mine love. My five year old actually hadn’t heard the original story of the gingerbread boy before but he caught on pretty quickly to the premise and really enjoyed this one.

Merry Christmas Curious George by H.A. Ray was not one of the review books we received but I found it recently at our local bookseller on sale and had to have it – and it was so classically George and wonderful that I had to share it in this post. Our family loves all things Curious George and this story was no different. Told in the same way as all the other classic George stories with a tale that begins in a Christmas tree farm and ends in a children’s hospital, this one is sure to be a family favorite.

What are your favorite holiday stories to read to your kids?

Thanks to Penguin for providing the wonderful picture books mentioned above. I really enjoyed sharing them with my family and loved having the opportunity to share our favorites with my readers.