Read a funny Christmas themed book aloud together. Make it part of the season's joy, not just at kids' parties, but remember that adults like hearing a great story too! Open a fun Holiday book at an office party, cookie exchange, or family gathering.
Books for Purchase or on Loan
Books make great Christmas gifts too. Whether it’s one of the following four or another Holiday favorite, making traditions does not have to cost a lot of money. Local libraries offer free books for loan throughout the year and over the Christmas holiday.
Aunt Hilarity's Bustle -- Picture Book - Read Aloud age 4 to 104
Found in the children’s section of the library or bookstore, Helen Ketteman’s tall tales are tongue-in-cheek hysteria everyone rolls in laughter at hearing them, from age 4 to 104. Her books are truly at their best when read out loud.
Adding to the fun and frolic of these marvelous tall tales, are the masterful illustrations created by James Warhola, grandson of the late, great Andy Warhol. James has inherited his grandfather’s sense of humor and incensed his own personality and talent into his playful children’s literature illustrations.
Aunt Hilarity’s Bustle is a tall tale of life in the old west. Hilarity wants a fancy bustle in the worst way, and her crazy inventiveness to make it so, cause an insane ruckus from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Warhola’s illustrations keep the insanity rolling literally bouncing from one page to the next! “Aunt Hilarity’s Bustle” is no longer in print. However, it is on shelves of many public libraries across America and remains available through various vendors at Amazon.com.
- Aunt Hilarity's Bustle by Helen Ketteman, Illustrated by James Warhola, Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, ISBN 0-671-77861-7, available at amazon
The Christmas Blizzard -- Picture Book – Read Aloud age 4 to 104
The Christmas Blizzard opens with an old man telling his own yarn to the town kids about a terrible Christmas when he was a boy and Santa’s elves sunbathed instead of making toys, but a certain little boy got a bright idea and suddenly “snowflakes as big as dinner plates ” plopped out of the sky! Again, Ketteman and Warhola join talents to weave a hysterically wicked fun tall tale and The Christmas Blizzard blows the readers and listeners right along with them!
The Christmas Blizzard is a teacher and home school parent’s dream too, because it has tie-in science weather lessons and language arts lesson plans available online for classroom and home school use.
- The Christmas Blizzard, by Helen Ketteman, Illustrated by James Warhola, Published by Scholastic, Inc, ISBN 0-590-45878-7, available through Scholastic, Barnes & Nobles, & Booksense (Lesson plans also available)
Spirit of Christmas, the Easy Way
Whether the gathering is just two or two hundred, take a moment to draw everyone together in the spirit of Christmas. Read a funny Christmas themed book aloud together. Books make great Christmas gift ideas. Reading and listening together makes great memories, traditions, bringing families and friends closer.
For more fun Holiday books, see Lynn Pritchett's Editor's Choice Award-wining article, Christmas Read-Aloud Chapter Books for All Ages: Fun Read-Alouds to Bring Families & Friends Together.
See other Christmas book ideas from fellow Suite101 writer Jodie Wells-Slowgrove.
Lynn Pritchett - Lynn lives in Arizona with her husband and is caretaker for a few pets left behind by their two grown daughters.
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