’Tis the season to be reading, and there are plenty of Christmas-themed books for young readers to keep them amused and engaged by the light of a roaring fire (or perhaps an app that simulates same) this year.
First, a perennial classic in a new edition: Dr Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas! (HarperCollins, £6.99) continues to enchant readers both young and decrepit. The Grinch lives north of Who-ville and hates Christmas – whether it's because of his too-tight shoes or a too-small heart is up for debate. But even stealing the festive trappings can't stop the Whos from singing and celebrating – reminding us that Christmas "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more!"
A more recent picture book, but just as heart-warming, is Rachel Bright and Yu Rong's Snowflake in my Pocket (Walker Books, £6.99). Bear and Squirrel have explored their faraway forest, but Squirrel has yet to see snow. Bear is sure the weather will change soon – bears can tell these things – but when Squirrel wakes up to a winter wonderland, Bear has come down with the sniffles and must stay in bed. With some stunning snowflake images, this is a beautiful tale of friendship and the joys of playing in the snow.
For the child in need of something more interactive, Horrid Henry's Crafty Christmas (Orion, £4.99) is a make-and-do book based on Francesca Simon's bestselling series and illustrated by Tony Ross. There are both recipes and art projects included here, all with the same aura of mischief that has made Henry so popular with young readers. My personal favourite is the step-by-step plan to hold Santa hostage, which is perhaps why I will never earn Perfect Peter's "Good as Gold Star".
Lovers of terrible Christmas cracker jokes, get your hands on The Little Book of Christmas Jokes (Andersen Press, £3.99). Illustrated by Nigel Baines, this tiny volume features several categories of Yuletide gag, including Christmas dinner jokes and suggested book titles (Bad Gifts by MT Box).
Musician and vlogger Tom Fletcher was one half of the team responsible for bringing us The Dinosaur That Pooped Christmas and its many sequels. His first solo novel, The Christmasaurus (Puffin, £11.99) is for slightly older readers but along a similar theme, featuring a Christmassy dinosaur, a boy named William Trundle and, of course, Santa Claus.
With illustrations by Shane Davies, this is a more thoughtful book than it might initially seem. William uses a wheelchair after an accident that also killed his mother, and is bullied at school by the awful Brenda. What he wants most in all the world is a dinosaur – but is he foolish to even consider writing to Santa about this, when all the kids at school are so sure believing in Santa is stupid? This is a funny, warm adventure story for the holiday season.
Slightly darker is Robin Stevens's Mistletoe and Murder (Puffin, £6.99), the fifth instalment in her bestselling Wells and Wong mystery series for 9+. The Christmas season sees Daisy and her sidekick Hazel – who narrates the adventures of their Detective Society – at a fictional Cambridge college, a place chock-full of privilege and prejudice.
Stevens’s books, set in the 1930s, have always nodded towards minorities and those typically left out of classic children’s books, but this is a particularly astute and timely look at how “Britishness” is defined, and how those who look differently are treated. Hazel, who has always been conscious of how her Chinese heritage sets her apart from her very English schoolmates, is perfectly placed to notice these racial tensions.
As with the other books in the series, though, it’s also a captivating mystery, inviting the reader to notice the clues that Daisy, Hazel and their rival detective society – the Junior Pinkertons – are piecing together in an attempt to figure out who might have murdered a wealthy student. And although there are nods to previous titles, this can also serve as an entry point into one of the most accomplished children’s series of recent times.
Also for this age group, author Abi Elphinstone has edited a gorgeous collection of wintry tales, Winter Magic (Simon and Schuster, £9.99). With a healthy mix of more established authors – Berlie Doherty, Geraldine McCaughrean, Michelle Magorian – and newcomers, this anthology already has a classic feel. This is due in part to the subject matter, which draws heavily on traditional myths and features elves, dragons and pied pipers, and in part to the presentation in a beautiful hardback edition.
I'll Be Home for Christmas (Stripes Publishing, £7.99) is an anthology for teen readers with a much more modern feel. Featuring both stories and poems on the theme of "home", the collection has been put together in aid of UK homelessness charity Crisis. Although some of the stories feel a little too neat and tidy, there's an impressive range of edgy YA authors included here: Melvin Burgess, Juno Dawson, Cat Clarke and Julie Mayhew, to name a few.
Finally, for a cosier Christmas YA read, David Levithan and Rachel Cohn's The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily (Electric Monkey, £7.99) is a he-said, she-said romance about a couple struggling after a year together (the pair first met in Dash and Lily's Book of Dares), and an attempt to rekindle Christmas magic in a world that seems a little too bleak for it to matter. The New York setting lends this quirky love story a glamour that will appeal to young teens, and there's just enough reality in here to ground the more implausible aspects of this Yuletide adventure.
Claire Hennessy is a writer, editor and creative writing facilitator
