It’s time to share Children’s Christmas Books perfect for reading and gifting this season. With just two months to Christmas, I wanted to get a jump on all the new children’s Christmas books available this year. These books are great additions to your library, whether you are looking to add to your collection or maybe start your own Bookish Advent Calendar. Click HERE to see all the Christmas-themed books I’ve previously shared on the blog.
HOW DOES SANTA GO DOWN THE CHIMNEY?
By: Mac Barnett
Illustrated by: Jon Klassen
Published: September 12, 2023
Publisher: Candlewick Books
Fiction
Has your child ever asked how Santa gets down the chimney? What if you don’t have a chimney? Mac Barnett doesn’t know for sure how Santa does it, but he does have some ideas.
Does Santa shrink to the size of a mouse or stretch out like taffy? Does Santa’s suit get so dirty that he must do laundry each time he goes down the chimney? What if you don’t have a chimney? Does he use your hidden key under the flower pot to get inside?
Mac Burnett steps into a child’s mind and asks all the questions children want to know as they begin to wonder about the validity of Santa. Even though we don’t have the answers, our imagination and the silliness of his ideas help us realize there has to be a bit of magic involved when it comes to being Santa. Because all that really matters is that Santa stops by, not how he gets inside the house.
Younger kids will laugh at the silliness of Santa being kicked down the chimney by the reindeer. While older kids will find the magic in the story of Santa and the reindeer arriving on Christmas Eve. The illustrations are silly and show Santa contorting to slide through doors and down a chimney. Maybe your family will decide which idea is the best for your family’s situation. I can see this book becoming a new favorite Christmas Eve story. Maybe it will even create discussions about how Santa comes down the chimney and lead your child to come up with their own idea.
Mac Barnett is a New York Times best-selling author of several books for children, including Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, the Shapes Trilogy, and many others illustrated by Jon Klassen. He is also the author of Just Because, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault; A Polar Bear in the Snow, illustrated by Shawn Harris; John’s Turn, illustrated by Kate Berube; and Twenty Questions, illustrated by Christian Robinson. Winner of three New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book Awards and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Mac Barnett lives in Oakland, California. Check out his website, HERE.
If you are local to me, Mac Barnett will be at the Ames City Auditorium hosted by Dog-Eared Books on Saturday, November 9, from 3-4:30 to read from his newest book, FIRST CAT IN SPACE #3. Get tickets, HERE.
Jon Klassen is the creator of the #1 New York Times best-selling I Want My Hat Back, which won a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor, and its companions This Is Not My Hat, which won a Caldecott Medal and a Kate Greenaway Medal, and We Found a Hat. He is also the author-illustrator of The Rock from the Sky and The Skull, and the illustrator of Extra Yarn, Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, and the Shapes Trilogy, all by Mac Barnett. Originally from Ontario, Jon Klassen now lives in Los Angeles.
Download an activity kit, HERE.
To purchase a copy of HOW DOES SANTA GO DOWN THE CHIMNEY?, click HERE.
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Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. If you choose to make a purchase through the above links, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase.
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Posted Under Book Review, Children's books, Christmas, Jon Klassen, Mac Barnett