Top Books for Kids this Christmas

Christmas is on it's way and I find it quite difficult to not be obsessed with all the fun toys that make noise, sing, wiggle and talk back to you. There is nothing wrong with having fun toys for your kids to open on Christmas, but I think it's also important to give them educational toys and books that will continue to expand their minds!

So, I decided to share with you my top book picks for all reading levels for this Christmas season! Merry Christmas & Joyous Reading!

Top Book Picks: (starts with youngest readers and goes to older readers)

1. That's Not My Snowman (age 0-2) - This delightful series of board books is aimed at very young children. The bright pictures, with their patches of different textures, are designed to develop sensory and language awareness. Babies and toddlers will love turning the pages and touching the feely patches. (Find at B&N for $4.99)

2. TouchThinkLearn: Vehicles (age 0-2) - Featuring spreads each with raised shaped objects that fit into scooped cutouts on their opposite page, these two new TouchThinkLearn books offer the youngest learners an irresistible opportunity to explore their universe in a hands-on, multisensory way. Seeing the image, tracing its shape, saying its name: these modes of perception combine in a dynamic way to stimulate understanding of essential concepts. (Find on Amazon for $12.06)

3. Goodnight Moon (Board Book) (age 0-2) - In a great green room, tucked away in bed, is a little bunny. "Goodnight room, goodnight moon." And to all the familiar things in the softly lit room--to the picture of the three little bears sitting in chairs, to the clocks and his socks, to the mittens and the kittens, to everything one by one--he says goodnight. This is a classic of modern children's literature. (Find at B&N for $6.71)

4. The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name (all ages) - The Moonbeam Award Gold Medal Winner in the religion category, The Jesus Storybook Bible tells the Story beneath all the stories in the Bible. At the center of the Story is a baby, the child upon whom everything will depend. Every story whispers his name. From Noah to Moses to the great King David---every story points to him. He is like the missing piece in a puzzle---the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together. From the Old Testament through the New Testament, as the Story unfolds, children will pick up the clues and piece together the puzzle. A Bible like no other, The Jesus Storybook Bible invites children to join in the greatest of all adventures, to discover for themselves that Jesus is at the center of God's great story of salvation---and at the center of their Story too. (Find on Amazon for $9.98)

5. Dr. Seuss' What Pet Should I Get? (age 3-5) - This never-ever-before-seen picture book by Dr. Seuss about making up one’s mind is the literary equivalent of buried treasure! What happens when a brother and sister visit a pet store to pick a pet? Naturally, they can’t choose just one! The tale captures a classic childhood. (Found at B&N for $10.83)

6. The Little Snowplow (age 3-5) - Big trucks may brag and roar, but small and steadfast wins the day in this cheerful story with timeless appeal.On the Mighty Mountain Road Crew, the trucks come in one size: BIG. That is, until the little snowplow joins the crew. None of the other trucks think that the little snowplow can handle the big storms, but he knows that he can do it. (Found on Jet.com for $8.23)

7. The Wonderful Things You Will Be (age 3-5) - From brave and bold to creative and clever, the rhythmic rhyme expresses all the loving things that parents think of when they look at their children. With beautiful, and sometimes humorous, illustrations, and a clever gatefold with kids in costumes, this is a book grown-ups will love reading over and over to kids—both young and old. A great gift for any occasion, but a special stand-out for baby showers, birthdays, and graduation. The Wonderful Things You Will Be has a loving and truthful message that will endure for lifetimes. (Found at B&N for $11.53)

8. Old School (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series #10) (age 6-8) - Life was better in the old days. Or was it? That’s the question Greg Heffley is asking as his town voluntarily unplugs and goes electronics-free. But modern life has its conveniences, and Greg isn’t cut out for an old-fashioned world. With tension building inside and outside the Heffley home, will Greg find a way to survive? Or is going “old school” just too hard for a kid like Greg? (Found at Books-a-Million for $8.37)

9. Ishtar's Odyssey: A Storybook for Advent (age 6-8) - Told from a young boy's perspective, this advent book is quite different than the majority. Ishtar takes the reader with him through the discoveries of his adventure discovering who the baby boy is that was born in the manger so long ago. (Found at ChristianBook.com for $8.99)

10. Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans (age 9-12) - America’s #1 radio talk-show host and multi-million-copy #1 New York Timesbestselling author presents a book for young readers with a history teacher who travels back in time to have adventures with exceptional Americans.MEET RUSH LIMBAUGH’S REALLY GOOD PAL, RUSH REVERE! (Found at B&N for $12.30)

11. Wonder (age 9-12) - The extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller that has captivated over 1 million readers and inspired a movement to choose kind.I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. (Found on Amazon for $8.41)

12. A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story (age 9-12) - The New York Times bestseller A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way. (Found on Amazon for $4.22)