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best books about festivals and celebrations

Festivals and Celebrations Topic

Best children’s books about festivals and celebrations

Let’s celebrate! Featuring fun picturebooks and fascinating non-fiction texts, this collection of the best children’s books about festivals and celebrations offers a colourful and insightful global journey. Learn about festivals from a range of cultures and traditions and extend your children’s understanding of important religious celebrations with this list of books for Early Years and Key Stage One classrooms, designed to bring the topic of festivals and celebrations to life.

Primary Book Gift Guide 2022

Primary School Book Gift Guide 2022

Books are a wonderful choice of Christmas gifts for children. From timeless bedtime stories and curious information books to festive favourites and glorious gift books, we’ve selected our top recommendations of book gifts for children in the primary years.

operation nativity

Operation Nativity

Chapter book

When Oscar and Molly rush outside to investigate a crash in the night, they’re not expecting to find a dazed Angel Gabriel wandering around their grandparents’ back garden. And they’re certainly not expecting to find themselves in a race to save Christmas.

But if they don’t track down a missing shepherd, wise man, donkey and the actual Mary and Joseph, who’ve all crash-landed in Chipping Bottom, not only will Christmas cease to exist, but they will too. Operation Nativity is on.

Featuring fun festive activities to try with your family!

A Donkey Called Mistletoe

A Donkey Called Mistletoe

Chapter book

Jasmine’s dad is a farmer, and her mum is a large-animal vet, so Jasmine spends a lot of time caring for animals and keeping them out of trouble. Unfortunately, this often means she gets into hot water herself…

A perfect animal story for younger readers by Waterstones Children’s Book Prize-shortlisted author Helen Peters, with beautiful black-and-white illustrations by Ellie Snowdon.

When Jasmine learns that Mr Hobson has grown too old to take care of his pet donkey, Mistletoe, she is determined that they won’t be parted. Of course, this means Mistletoe will have to come and live with her. With Christmas coming, how can she convince her parents to give her this most unusual present?

Brilliant storytelling that will make you laugh and cry, this is Dick King-Smith for a new generation.

virtually christmas

Virtually Christmas

Chapter book

The HILARIOUS new novel and the year’s most perfect festive gift – from million-copy bestselling author David Baddiel.

It used to be the most WONDERFUL time of the year, but for years Christmas has been taken over by Winterzone.

All the things that made Christmas special are gone: the human connection, the baubles passed down through generations, even the rubbish cracker jokes.

Instead, Christmas is run by robots, while 3D holograms of Santa Claus called Santavatars check if you’ve been naughty or nice – and on Christmas Eve, all of the presents are delivered by ZoneDrones instead of Santa’s reindeer!

But when they stumble on a curious clue, eleven-year-old Etta and her friend Monty find themselves thrown into a fight to bring back Christmas. Racing against time and against the might of Winterzone, they must find the real Santa – before the true meaning of the festive season is lost forever…

the Grumpus book

The Grumpus and his Dastardly, Dreadful Christmas Plan

Chapter book

Do you know about The Grumpus?

And his Dastardly, Dreadful Christmas Plan? And about the Awful Thing that happened at the North Pole on Christmas Eve?

Perhaps I should tell you about it…

This heartwarming story follows the adventures of an unlikely hero as he journeys to the North Pole, unwittingly and somewhat reluctantly making lots of new friends along the way. A beautiful hardback with a festively foiled cover and beautiful artwork from the author, it is the perfect Christmas gift, destined to becoming a modern Christmas classic that adults and children alike return to year after year.

Diary of a Christmas Elf

Diary of a Christmas Elf

Chapter book

All Tog wants to do is work in Santa’s workshop and one wonderful day, the letter from Santa arrives: Tog has been selected as an apprentice elf! Making toys is a lot more technical and a lot less fun than Tog had imagined, and even though his new friend Holly tries to help him, he’s quickly relegated to cleaning out the reindeer stables. But someone has been stealing the presents from the workshop and a case of mistaken identity finds Tog accused of being the culprit! Can Tog use his special Christmas magic to discover the real thief and save all the presents before Christmas Eve is over?

A funny and heartwarming story from the King of Christmas, Ben Miller – the perfectly sized stocking filler for all the family!

christmas poems

Christmas Poems

Poetry

Christmas Poems is a festive collection of classic and modern poems, carols and songs which celebrates all the best things about Christmas from the Nativity to Father Christmas, including snow, angels, reindeer, Christmas trees and, of course, Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. Collated by children’s poetry expert Gaby Morgan, Christmas Poems is illustrated by Axel Scheffler, illustrator of The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom.

One Christmas Wish

One Christmas Wish

Chapter book

It’s Christmas Eve and Theo – left at home with a babysitter – sees an odd-looking star out of his window and decides to make a wish. He wishes that he had some friends to keep him company. Moments later the Christmas decorations begin to disentangle themselves from the tree behind him, ready to wreak a little havoc …

Written with generous helpings of warmth and humour, this is a timeless Christmas story about treasuring the people and values that really matter at this time of year. With breathtaking illustrations by Emily Sutton capturing the magic of the season in stunning detail, this modern classic from master storyteller and bestselling children’s author Katherine Rundell makes the perfect Christmas gift.

The Accidental Father Christmas book

The Accidental Father Christmas

Chapter book

The latest hilarious caper from author Tom McLaughlin. Funny by name. Funny by nature. Ben has one important thing on his Christmas list, and it’s the same thing every year. He wants his dad to be at home for Christmas. But his wish never comes true. And Ben’s starting to get a bit sceptical about Father Christmas’s existence, he needs proof. So, on Christmas Eve, he sets up an elaborate booby trap to capture the jolly bearded fella as he comes sliding down the chimney. Kicking off a sequence of hilarious events that makes this Christmas the most bonkers ever!

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Stone Girl Bone Girl

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