Best 2012 Holiday Childrens' Books, Recommended By The Hazlet Children's Librarian

We asked the Hazlet Library the best holiday books written just for kids in 2012. For her list, Children's Librarian Jackie Moss selected 10 picture books; 3 chapter books; and 3 nonfiction books.

Of course they would make great gifts. But they are also free to borrow through the Monmouth County Library system. 

• “Christmas at the Toy Museum” Lucas, David
  • Picture book – An assortment of magical toy companions gather around the museum’s Christmas tree and are dismayed to find no gifts, prompting an idea that they should give themselves to each other.
• “Strega Nona’s Gift” DePaola, Tomie
  • Picture book – In Strega Nona’s village, the holiday season is a time of celebrations, and nothing says celebration like a feast. When Big Anthony smells the delicious treats Strega Nona is cooking for the town, he decides that just a taste couldn’t hurt, right? Wrong. Big Anthony gets his just “desserts,” while Strega Nona surprises everyone with a special gift.
• “Together at Christmas” Spinelli, Eileen
  • Picture book – Ten little mice, huddled together in Christmas snow, go off, one by one, to find warm places to sleep, but soon decide they would rather be celebrating together.
• “Daddy Christmas and Hanukkah Mama” Alko, Selina
  • Picture book – A child relates how the family celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah, enjoying the rich traditions of both religions.
• “Santa Retires” Biedrzycki, David
  • Picture book – Santa Claus is tired of delivering toys and decides to retire to somewhere warm, but things do not work out as expected.
• “The Christmas Tugboat: How the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Came to New York City” Matteson, George
  • Picture book – A New York Harbor tugboat captain and his family take the tug up the Hudson River to pick up and tow the barge carrying the enormous Christmas tree that will be displayed at Rockefeller Center.
• “Sad Santa” Carpenter, Tad
  • Picture book – A wish list letter from a good-hearted boy shows Santa, who is suffering from a case of post-Christmas blues, that the holiday spirit lasts 365 days a year.
• “How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah?” Yolen, Jane
  • Picture book – Presents some of the different ways a well-behaved dinosaur can celebrate Chanukah.
• “How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas?” Yolen, Jane
  • Picture book – Presents some of the different ways a well-behaved dinosaur can celebrate Christmas.
• “Jeremy’s Dreidel” Gellman, Ellie
  • Picture book – A boy makes a Braille Hanukkah dreidel for his father, who is blind.
• “Mother-Daughter Book Club: Home for the Holidays” Frederick, Heather Vogel
  • Chapter book – Four girls continue their mother-daughter book club, reading Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol,” but from unexpected blizzards to a sledding disaster, nothing goes as planned.
• “Magic Tree House #44: A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time” Osborne, Mary Pope
  • Chapter book – Jack & Annie travel back to Victorian London to inspire Dickens to write “A Christmas Carol”
• “George Brown, Class Clown Super Special: The 12 Burps of Christmas” Krulik, Nancy E.
  • Chapter book – 2 stories, 1 book! George looks forward to Christmas but the class play and a surprise visit with Kevin, his best friend, are both marred by the magic burps.
• “Kwanzaa” Rissman, Rebecca
  • Nonfiction – The story of Kwanzaa, the seven ideas of Kwanzaa, celebrating Kwanzaa, and Kwanzaa symbols.
• “Kwanzaa” Trueit, Trudi Strain
  • Nonfiction – A simple introduction to Kwanzaa using rebuses.
• “Let’s Celebrate! Festival Poems From Around the World” Chatterjee, Debjani
  • Nonfiction – This exciting anthology of poems celebrates festivals all over the world, with explanations of the festivals at the back of the book.