Tough Cookie By Edward Hemingway

It is a fun twist of a holiday story, with a little bit of the classic tale of the gingerbread man.

The story starts like this. The box visits the Christmas town and happens to see a yummy cookie. The fox could not resist the temptation and chased him to have a bite. The cookie was a fun and cheeky guy who challenged the fox which made the situation go from bad to worse ( in a fun way)

“Run, run as fast as you can!
You can’t catch me-
I am the sugar cookie man”

At last, cookie fails to keep up with the fox’s speed and got bitten a bit on the head and ends up hearing the worst news of his life.

“Sorry to break it to you, my friend
but you taste terrible. Plus, I think I just broke my tooth”

Poor cookie couldn’t bear the thought that he was neither sweet nor fast and lacked purpose.

However fox gives up his stereotypical cunning fox role and starts the quest to find the cookie’s purpose in life. 

Read the story and enjoy their fun -filled journey to find PURPOSE in life and learn how this cookie can be related to our lives too.

This story is simple, full of humour and the illustrations make us imagine a Christmas wonderland. So captivating! I love that it teaches us about self-acceptance and understanding that each and everyone of us has a skill or gift that makes us who we are.

Food for thought after a hearty laugh! Can’t get any better 🙂

 

 

 

How to catch an elf By Adam Wallace

 

This is a silly and fun story based on Santa and an elf that will fill your home with roars of laughter. 

If you are looking for a book to up your kids’ mood and make them laugh, this will definitely help. The pictures are vibrant and inviting and I am sure the kids will love them.

The story starts like this. This Christmas, the children are planning to catch Santa’s elf (after realising Santa is impossible to catch), and go a little overboard (well, not a little) in their action plan. 

But this elf is smart and cheeky enough to dodge the children’s traps such as ”tinsel net, double tape trap, bonbon boom, candy cane trap” etc. All these are such silly and crazy ways to catch an elf and that’s the beauty of it. It’s hilarious and children love such hullabaloo.

The line “Together we deliver” where Santa and the elf escape on a pizza is the highlight of the story for me. That witty and amusing language plus fantastic illustrations make it my favourite part of the story. 

Not to mention the universally loved pizza included in a Christmas story to make it appealing to children from all four corners of the world. I thought it was very smart of him.

A special mention goes to rhyming words and rhythmic lines used by the writer which give life to the story and complement the action-packed plot. A must-read!

 

 

 

How Santa Got His Job By Stephen Krensky

 

This is a cute and inventive story of how Santa got his job. It depicts Santa as a regular person trying to be productive in the real world and ultimately finding his true calling of being Santa Claus.

If your child is bombarding you with a million questions about Santa and whys and hows, this book can come to your rescue because the author has paid attention to every detail of Santa’s past and present lives. 

For example how Santa got his big tummy, experience as a delivery guy, friendship with reindeers so on and so forth all these are explained in detail.

The story is captivating yet exciting because you have no clue what happens next. The writer has added “But there was a problem” to bring up the twist quite a few times. It makes the story engaging and interesting for the reader.

In addition to that, this book is ideal if you want to teach them cause and effect. It’s a great way to have a super fun conversation over a yummy hot chocolate 🙂 It also teaches us the lesson that persistence pays off in the long run.

 

 

More Christmas books for children…

Super Santa: The Science of Christmas By Bruce Hale

Have you ever wondered how Santa manages to deliver millions of presents to children all over the world in just one night?

Read this amazing book and get answers about the logistics of all Christmas presents. I love how this book allows our children to use up all their imaginative skills and glorify what we don’t see with our naked eyes. This one is definitely for believers!

 

A Charlie Brown Christmas Book by Charles M. Schulz

Charles Schulz’s made-for-TV-cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas, first appeared on the US television pre-Christmas line-up in Dec. 1965.

Surrounded by all the fancy decorations of the Christmas season, Charlie Brown senses that something is missing. What is Christmas all about, is it really just about the presents, or the lights and other decorations? 

The season has become so commercialised that people seem to glorify only material things. Charlie Brown did not want to go with the tide so he sets out to find the true Christmas spirit.

“Glory to God and the highest, and on Earth peace, Good will towards men. That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown”

This is one of the best lines which sums up the true Christmas spirit pinpointed in this book. 

I picked this book for so many reasons. One is its heart-warming message to both children and adults and other is the nostalgia it brings with the classic Charlie Brown style. Old is Gold 🙂

 

The Christmas puppy by Irma Wilde

This vintage beauty consists of a timeless story about the joy of giving. The illustrations are so pleasing to the eye and can take you back to the olden days.

The story unfolds like this. That year every child in town wanted a toy dog for Christmas, but Santa received Polly’s letter asking for a toy puppy at the last minute. 

There was no time at all to make another toy so instead of a toy, Santa made the holiday extra special by giving Polly a sweet, lovable real Puppy. Polly and the Puppy couldn’t be happier at Christmas.

This story resonates with the joy of giving in this festive season. Santa had enough reasons to ignore the little girl’s request as he received it at the last minute. 

Even Mrs. Claus suggested nothing could be done about it then as it was too late. But Santa was all for giving, and disappointing a little girl was the last thing he would do. He ended up giving them one of his own puppies instead of a toy puppy. So heart warming and inspiring.

This story teaches us about beauty of giving even when you can get away with an excuse. Just the right message for EVERYONE !

 

Cookiesaurus Christmas by Amy Fellner Dominy and Nate Evans

This is a sweet and funny story ideal for younger kids. The illustrations are so cute and eye-catching.

In this story, a dinosaur cut-out cookie wants to be on Santa’s plate but the children’s preferred choices were Star, Bell and Ginger bread man.

Cookiesaurus sabotages other cookies’ plans to be on the coveted plate with a lot of tricks and finally manages to secure his spot on Santa’s plate. But he couldn’t enjoy his victory as he looked back at what he’d done to get there.

It so beautiful that he finally understands his mistakes and tries to rectify them. The moment he got over his over ambition, we saw him as a totally different person (cookie of course! 🙂 )

I love it when the cookie’s conscience pricked him about the way he got to the place he wanted and he quickly acted to conform to fair play.(to his best) Finally gets an even better place( this time without even trying) to be an ornament on top of the Christmas tree.

 

The moment he gave up his over ambition, he got everything 🙂 Isn’t that truly inspiring?