Family Reading Guide: Christmas Book Advent & Storytime Tips 2024

Nov 28, 2024 | Author Updates

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November 2024 Newsletter

Hi friends,

First off, happy Thanksgiving! I love Thanksgiving and usually the day after Thanksgiving we decorate for Christmas but for some reason this year, the day after Halloween our neighborhood started lighting up with Christmas lights and we joined in and decorated for Christmas early (it’s never too early for Christmas trees and snowmen!).

As you know, my book Storm Trucks is coming out soon (January 2025). This month I’ve been trying another online strategy of creating a lot of blog articles for my website to gain more traffic. If you’ve been with me in my journey you know I’ve tried several strategies to find the right audience for my books. Along this journey I’ve tried supercharging my social media (awful!), YouTube videos (still going, it’s fun!), and now boosting my website content to reach the right audience.

One of the things I’ve learned from different people claiming to be experts in this online brand building is that you need to find your specific niche and audience. Who are your people/tribe? What do you have that would help them?

As I thought about this over the past several months, a phrase came to me that I have embraced: “Building Up Families with Books”. Now I’m doubling down on that. I truly believe that if families come together in a daily storytime, it will build lasting connections between family members, bring a peaceful routine to bedtime, and encourage screen-free imagination and play. I think the benefits go way beyond those three, actually. You can read more about the power of storytime in my article: How to Make Family Reading Time Special.

A great time to start reading aloud together? By doing a Christmas Book Advent! Our family has done this for years, by gathering all our Christmas books and putting them under the tree. Each evening we read a Christmas book together (especially good with hot chocolate or apple cider!). This year, we’re going to read “A Christmas Carol”, which I have never actually read. I’m excited, and I’ll let you know how it goes.

Updates:

New YouTube Videos:

New Blog Posts:

Book Recommendations:

Picture Book:

Because of an Acorn

by Adam and Lola M. Schaefer, Illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon

Because of an acorn, a tree grows, a bird nests, a seed becomes a flower. Enchanting die-cuts illustrate the vital connections between the layers of an ecosystem in this magical book. Wander down the forest path to learn how every tree, flower, plant, and animal connect to one another in spiraling circles of life. An acorn is just the beginning.

My Take: This book is a beautiful picture book that celebrates the power of a oak tree to be the backbone of an entire ecosystem. It includes animals, plants, and the oak tree in a celebration of the forest. I loved the pictures, and they were interesting to look at for my kids, too. 5/5

Non-Fiction Picture Book:

Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere

by Barb Rosenstock and Katherine Roy

On June 6, 1930, engineer Otis Barton and explorer Will Beebe dove into the ocean inside a hollow metal ball of their own invention called the Bathysphere.

They knew dozens of things might go wrong. A tiny leak could shoot pressurized water straight through the men like bullets! A single spark could cause their oxygen tanks to explode! No one had ever dived lower than a few hundred feet…and come back. But Otis and Will were determined to become the first people to see what the deep ocean looks like.

My Take: This book wowed me. I cannot imagine doing what these two men did, cramming themselves into a tiny metal sphere and going down 600 feet into the deep ocean. They were pioneers and brave, and I was thrilled to adventure with them through the safety of a picture book. 5/5

Young-Adult:

The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien

by John Hendrix

Through narrative and comic panels, Hendrix chronicles Lewis and Tolkien’s near-idyllic childhoods, then moves on to both men’s horrific tour of the trenches of World War I to their first meeting at Oxford in 1929, and then the foreshadowing, action, and aftermath of World War II. He reveals the shared story of their friendship, in all its ups and downs, that gave them confidence to venture beyond academic concerns (fantasy wasn’t considered suitable for adult reading, but the domain of children), shaped major story/theme ideas, and shifted their ideas about the potential of mythology and faith.

The Mythmakers also shows the camaraderie and the importance of the social/literary circle of friends called the Inklings, and how the friendship of these two great men fell apart and came together again. Hendrix concludes describing how the writings of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien had re-enchanted the 20th century, after two World Wars. In writing aimed at scholars, adults, and young people, these two tweedy academics altered the course of storytelling and embraced the concept that fantasy writing for an adult audience was an accepted form of literature.

My Take: I loved it. This book was more powerful than I expected it to be. After putting it down several times it was all I could think about the rest of the day. It challenged me in a way to see heroes as human, and to see God at work in unexpected moments and ways. I am so moved by Tolkien and Lewis’s friendship and heartbroken by its ending, but what a blessing that they spurred each other to the heights they did. 5/5

Adult:

The Lost Bookshop

by Evie Woods

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder… where nothing is as it seems.

My take: I enjoyed reading this book, although I found the magical elements confusing and because of that, I found myself thinking about those mysteries instead of the more serious issues dealt with in this book: domestic abuse, subjugation of women, and learning to be self-reliant. 3/5

The sun hath shed its kindly light,
Our harvesting is gladly o’er
Our fields have felt no killing blight,
Our bins are filled with goodly store.

From pestilence, fire, flood, and sword
We have been spared by thy decree,
And now with humble hearts, O Lord,
We come to pay our thanks to thee.

We feel that had our merits been
The measure of thy gifts to us,
We erring children, born of sin,
Might not now be rejoicing thus.

No deed of our hath brought us grace;
When thou were nigh our sight was dull,
We hid in trembling from thy face,
But thou, O God, wert merciful.

Thy mighty hand o’er all the land
Hath still been open to bestow
Those blessings which our wants demand
From heaven, whence all blessings flow.

Thou hast, with ever watchful eye,
Looked down on us with holy care,
And from thy storehouse in the sky
Hast scattered plenty everywhere.

Then lift we up our songs of praise
To thee, O Father, good and kind;
To thee we consecrate our days;
Be thine the temple of each mind.

With incense sweet our thanks ascend;
Before thy works our powers pall;
Though we should strive years without end,
We could not thank thee for them all.

Paul Laurence Dunbar

A Thanksgiving Poem

Until next time,

Charlotte

← Best Bible Story Books for Children: Complete Age Guide (2024)

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