Christmas themed book ideas for 10-14 year olds

[SplendidPendips]

In the lead up to Christmas, I read my kids a bedtime story most nights. When they were younger it was Christmas themed picture books (which we still enjoy!). In recent years we loved all the Christmasaurus books, the Christmas Pig etc that we read each night over a number of weeks. Now they are getting older, can anyone recommend some lovely Christmassy books I can read to them? Not keen on the David Baddiel or Ben Miller books, we've tried them....

Ok, don't judge us but... I bought this for the little ones in the family. While DH was cooking for us one night, I decided to jokingly read it out to him...
Well, he didn't want me to stop 🤣 we both really enjoyed it! I can't remember anything about it but I had fun at the time!

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper is set at Christmas time. It's a wonderful book for young teens. A Christmas carol by Dickens is a possibility too

The Box of delights is magical. There's a book of Christmas stories by Enid Blyton I keep meaning to get.

All of my dc enjoyed A Boy Called Christmas, The Accidental Father Christmas and most recently The Miracle on Ebenezer Street.

My dd really enjoyed a series of 3 books by Mel Taylor Bessent. It starts with ‘The Christmas Carrolls : a fantastically festive family’. Perhaps a little too young for a 14 year old. Dd loved the Murder Most Unladylike series so also read Mistletoe and Murder.

the one I would have suggested (the Dark is rising ) has already been named. I adore it & try to re-read it most years.
I also like Alison Uttley’s stories for Christmas, probably for younger children, but it’s old fashioned & comforting.

Jostein Gaarder a Christmas mystery. Suitable for older children and adults, listed as both children and adults on Amazon. It's been 25 years since I read it but i remember it was good, must locate it in my loft!

Our favourite is Shirley Hughes’ ‘Lucy & Tom at Christmas’. Just read that it was between 10-14 so that may be a little young 🤦🏽‍♀️

I second or third The dark is rising. I still read the beginning now. Whoever wrote Cider with Rosie also wrote an auto/semiautobiographical book about Christmas in the south west. I’ve not read it though.

Yes to The Dark is Rising and The Box of Delights; but try also The Children of Green Knowe (super atmospheric!), and for around 13-ish, Jenny Overton’s The Thirteen Days of Christmas, funny and sweet and set around the seventeenth century IIRC.

Come to think of it, for 10-ish readers who like the past, Rosemary Sutcliffe’s The Armourer’s House is recently republished in a gorgeous hardback edition, and has the most lovely and heartwarming Christmas chapter at the close for younger readers.

I still read The Children of Green Knowe every Christmas, it’s beautiful, and often read The Dark is Rising too. The scene in CoGk where they hear the granny singing to the baby long ago makes me weep every year!
I also loved the Christmas chapter of Alison Uttley’s A Country Child at that age and still do but I can see it could be quite boring, there’s no,story as such, just a beautiful description of a (Victorian?) country Christmas.

Another vote for the dark is rising! Also Tolkien’s Father Christmas letters.

Thank you! I have just bought Miracle on Ebenezer Street and Box of Delights. I remember loving Box of Delights when I was younger, but can't remember the story well.

Was tempted by Greg the sausage roll and others!

I bought Dark is Rising last year, as it is often recommended. But we didn't get beyond the first 20 pages or so as it spooked the kids out. Lots of talk of people with dark eyes etc. Is it scary? Despite their ages, they can't cope with anything too spooky or scary and prefer humour.

I can't remember much about dark eyes in the Dark is Rising, but yes it deals with the rise of dark powers over the winter solstice (and their eventual defeat) - it isn't a barrel of laughs.

In that case Children of Green Knowe may also not be for them as it actually scared me much more then the Dark is Rising as a child, I was younger when I read it though. Ghosts, demon trees....

Try here for ideas OP:

https://bookadventcalendaruk.wordpress.com/