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Monthly Archives: December 2020

Read the Christmas Book and Watch the Christmas Movie

Reading a basketful of Christmas books is a wonderful way to spend our days, but there is something about snuggling up together to watch a Christmas movie with a mug of hot cocoa in the glow of the Christmas tree. We have a regular litany of Christmas movies we watch each year but I especially love it when we can celebrate the reading of one book with a family movie night.

Yesterday, in a last minute decision, I was able to attend the production Charlie Brown Christmas Live. Imagine my excitement! I’m fairly sure that when our children remember their childhood they will nostalgically recollect the marking of seasons by each Peanut’s Gang DVD. The live production was remarkable. I watched with a smile the entire performance and plotted brining my family next year. It’s a wonderful experience to build our family traditions, which for us include books and a selection of movies.

Here are a few for your family to enjoy!



Merry Christmas!

Categories: Book Lists

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Picture Book Biographies of Great Americans

Picture books pack a punch for the whole family. Yes, even your teenagers! The beautiful illustrations and text with rich vocabulary targets a wide age range which is especially good for larger families. With picture books, you gain a great overview of a topic in a very short amount of time. Plus, if something or someone particularly peaks your interest, now you have a springboard from which to find more books on that topic. 

Since summer is quickly approaching, I have compiled a list of 30 picture book biographies of influential Americans, most likely many of whom you have never heard of before. Head to your local library or the Amazon links below and choose which people of American History you most want your family to learn about this summer. From artists to architects, authors to library advocates,  computer programmers to female firefighters, and inventors to scientists almost all fields of interest are covered!

Below you will find the biographies listed in chronological order and divided into women and men. Enjoy your summer read aloud time!

For more picture book biographies please see this post on the Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire books and this post on Kadir Nelson’s books.

Categories: Book Lists

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Christmas Books for You and Yours

We’ve decked our halls and trimmed our trees. Our large blue wooden box of Christmas books sits stuffed to the brim and many titles have already passed through little hands.

We add to our Christmas book collection each year and develop new favorites as we revisit old friends. Traditionally our family celebrates the season at a slow pace as much as possible. Several years ago I wrote about 5 Helpful Principles Every Type A Woman Needs to Embrace and I’ve since tried to abide by them. With my husband working in the ministry the Christmas calendar has the potential to quickly fill up with church events alone so we have traditions that we maintain in our home but not always around town. The first and foremost tradition is reading wonderful books!

Christ is the central focus of Christmas in our home and here are the books we read to aid us with that intention:

Most of the books we read embody the spirit of Christmas without telling the Christmas story explicitly. There are many many of these but here are our favorites:

While Santa doesn’t deliver presents to our house (read more here), we have a few which incorporate St. Nicholas and Santa Claus. Here are some that we would recommend checking out at your local library or adding to your collection:

Santa Mouse may be the cutest mouse you will ever meet!

Don’t you love a wonderful Christmas story? The kind that offers peace, hope, and good will towards men?  Me too! I reread A Christmas Carol every year and typically I Saw Three Ships and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Following is a list of my 16 most cherished Christmas chapter books to read aloud or individually. Please share your favorites in the comments and feel free to ask me any questions that you have.


 I have a few that I’ve introduced to at least one of my children and plan to introduce to each of them this year:

 The Little Match Girl made an impression on me when I was a child. It is one that I haven’t shared with my children but plan on doing so this Christmas. I think this will open the door for rich conversations around our responsibility to look for ways to help others. 

Finally, I’ve posted here about Christmas books that have corresponding movies. Check out the list and see if there are any of your favorites!

Merry Christmas to you and yours. May your days awaiting the celebration of Christ’s birth draw you nearer to the heart of God.

Categories: Book Lists Christmas Books Holiday Books

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