4 Extraordinary Childrens Christmas Books + a Book on Tape - Holiday Gift Review

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For those who celebrate Christmas there are some wonderful choices for children's books and a book on CD this holiday season. Titles that truly engage whole families, getting moms and dads to bond with your kids. Among Mommy Blog Expert's best Christmas book picks this year are Sad Santa, The Night Before Christmas in Africa, and The Christmas Web. For great holiday books on CD it's The Night Before Christmas in Africa - Gullah Night Before Christmas.

MommyBlogExpert's Best Christmas Book Choices

Sad Santa by Tad Carpenter, Sterling Children's Books, Hardcover $14.95

Santa is anything but sad in this charming book with a modern twist that also harkens back to the old-fashioned publishing days when only a handful of colors were used in illustrations. As the tale goes, on December 26th Santa is hit with a case of post-Christmas let down, that party's over feeling that can sometimes make you feel a little blue.

This story could be a downer. But instead it is all about how the not-so-jolly old fellow looks inside that dark cloud of sadness to find a silver lining to cope with the fact that it's another whole year till he'll be delivering presents again to children around the globe. An upbeat book with a lesson for kids to always think positively and look on the bright side because things can and will get better. 

Peek inside this cute book's pages

 

More information sterlingpublishing.com or SadSantaBook.com

Image from Pelican Publishing

The Night Before Christmas in Africa by Carroll Foster, Pelican Publishing, Hardcover $16.99

It's no wonder that this book was selected as A Favorite Thing for Christmas by the South African Edition of O, The Oprah Magazine. This is an African adaptation of the classic Twas the Night Before Christmas poem by Clement C. Moore that tells the fantastical story of Christmas on the Africa plain where it never snows. 

Perhaps what's most important in the storyline is the Shangaan tribe and how they receive a simple gift, something much more precious than material things. Vividly illustrated by Jean Christodoulou, a well-known South African artist, in the native folk art style of her homeland, children are in for not only a fun story but also a visual treat. Best of all, every book sold supports disadvantaged and learning-disabled children at Sparrow Schools in Africa. 

More information Pelicanpub.com

Image from Pelican Publishing

The Night Before Christmas in Africa - Gullah Night Before Christmas Book on CD, Pelican Audio, Hardcover $15.95

As a companion to either hardcover book of the same title or alone, kids with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads will also enjoy listening to this reading on CD that runs 32 minutes and includes both stories. The first story (see review of that title above) is told in the baritone voice of Sibusiso Victor Masondo and features sounds of thunder as lightning flashes across the African plain sky as well as traditional songs performed by the Sparrows Schools Children's Choir. 

The other story in this recording is Gullah Night Before Christmas which is also inspired by the classic. The tale, authored by Virginia M. Geraty, Ph.D. the world's foremost authority on the Gullah language, takes place in a coastal South Carolina town and involves a rabbit that delivers presents to well-behaved boys and girls, interweaving Gullah traditions. 

More information Pelicanpub.com

Outside Gift Box, Image from The Christmas Web

The Christmas Web by Kerry Grinkmeyer, Best of Us Publishing, Gift Box Hardcover Set, $39.99

If there's a new tradition to start with your family this Christmas it has got to be The Christmas Web. This engaging present comes in a huge 11" x 14" x 3" gift box shaped like a book. Inside the ready to give packaging you'll find a hard copy of The Christmas Web 47-page illustrated storybook that tells kids how the tradition began alongside three 12" tall red, yellow and green wands, each with 70 feet of yarn so you and your kids can spin your own webs for Christmas.

Inside Gift Box with Book & 3 Magic Wands of Yarn

Inside The Christmas Web Book

Here's how this works. After the kids are snug in theirs beds on Christmas Eve, parents unwind the spools twisting and turning the yarn through the house on doorknobs, window sills and other places you think of to create a web. Then in the morning when the kids get up, each follows his or her designated yarn color winding it back onto the spool as they go until it leads them to the special gift from the elves. 

This is sure to be a blast for young and old, so have your still and video cameras ready to capture all the hilarity and action as the children navigate a new, non-electronic sort of web. Available at Barnes &  Noble, Amazon, Hallmark Store, Toys R Us, Learning Express and other book, toy and gift stores nationwide. Free shipping when you order on Amazon or ChristmasWeb.com when using code Kobie1944.

Take a look at this YouTube to see how fun The Christmas Web is



More information and to order additional magic wands  ChristmasWeb.com

Any or all of these books will be a welcome alternative to the electronic gifts many children will be receiving this season. What's more is that each of these will help instill a love of reading in kids as well as create wonderful holiday memories for both you and your children that can be captured and passed generation to generation.

FTC Disclosure: I received the books and CD featured to facilitate this post but did not receive any payment. Thoughts in this blogpost are my own. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.