Not only Charles Dickens and Astrid Lindgren: Christmas book classics by Otfried Preußler, Cornelia Funke and Sven Nordqvist are also worth reading for young and old.
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The first snow has already fallen, the Christmas cookies - baked with recipes from the top 5 best baking books of 2022 - have been nibbled plentifully and the gifts are wrapped and are just waiting to be placed under the tree - or are they still missing one or the other gift?
Books make great last-minute Christmas gifts, especially for children.
Because the bookstores are still open until Christmas Eve.
But you don't know which books you can give children for Christmas?
Don't worry, there's reading inspiration here.
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Do your children know the five best Christmas children's book classics?
© Ramon Lopez/Imago
Classics always work!
Even if, according to a study, fewer and fewer parents read to their children - even though there are such valuable children's books.
Because spending time together is the order of the day, especially at Christmas.
What better way to put yourself in a contemplative mood than with a nice Christmas story?
You can find out which five Christmas book classics you and your children should definitely know in the following list of books: The top 5 Christmas children's book classics.
1. Christmas book classic for children: "Behind enchanted windows: A mysterious Advent story" by Cornelia Funke
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Behind Enchanted Windows: A Mysterious Advent Story by Cornelia Funke
© Fisherman
Works such as "The Thief Lord", the "Inkheart" trilogy or the series "The Wild Chickens" by the bestselling author Cornelia Funke can be found on numerous children's and young adult bookshelves.
But did you know that the internationally most successful and well-known German children's and youth book author can also write and illustrate wonderful Christmas stories?
That's why it should not be missing in the series of the best Christmas children's book classics.
Why did my stupid little brother Olli get the beautiful chocolate advent calendar and I only got this stupid paper advent calendar, Julia is annoyed.
But the house depicted on her calendar glitters so silvery and mysteriously that Julia cannot resist the temptation and opens the first window of her calendar house.
Then she notices that the house is inhabited and that she can visit the people who live in it.
The adventure begins...
fisherman
Cornelia Funke "Behind Enchanted Windows: A Mysterious Advent Story"
2009, Fischer Verlag ISBN-13 978-3596809271
Price: paperback €10, e-book €8.99 192 pages – Buy now (promotional link)
2. Classic Christmas books for children: “Pettersson gets a Christmas visit” by Sven Nordqvist
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Pettersson gets a Christmas visit from Sven Nordqvist
© Oetinger
For days it's so cold that old Pettersson and his cat Findus don't want to stick their noses out the door, and just as it's getting a little warmer the old man sprains his ankle.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.
How are they supposed to get to a Christmas tree now?
How about cod, meatballs and gingerbread?
A nice gift!
Oetinger
In 1984, the Swede Sven Nordqvist published his first "Pettersson and Findus" picture book, whose illustrations are characterized by loving details and whose texts are written with humor and charm.
Since then, the old man and his cat have accompanied generations of children as they grow up.
Anyone who wants to take themselves back to their childhood days or go on a little Christmas adventure with their children should not miss the wonderful Christmas book "Pettersson gets Christmas visit" about charity and helpfulness.
Sven Nordqvist "Pettersson gets a Christmas visit"
1989, Oetinger Verlag ISBN-13 978-3789161742
Price: hardcover €15, 32 pages – Buy now (promotional link)
3. Classic Christmas books for children: "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens
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A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
© Dressler
The miracle on Christmas night.
Old Scrooge is a thug and cutthroat.
On Christmas Eve he sits in his office, freezing and annoyed that everyone else is happy.
At night, the spirits of Christmas and his deceased partner visit him.
They take Scrooge on a journey into the past and the future and he realizes how lonely and pointless his life is.
At the end of that Christmas night, old Scrooge has changed.
Dressler
The Christmas classic par excellence is probably Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" about the mean, Christmas-hating Ebenezer Scrooge.
The story of the miser who developed into a charitable person can no longer be separated from the festival of love, and has been published and filmed numerous times.
Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol"
2020, Dressler Verlag ISBN-13 978-3791501611
Price: hardcover €12, e-book €7.99, 144 pages – Buy now (promotional link)
4. Classic Christmas books for children: “The little donkey and the little angel” by Otfried Preussler
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The Little Donkey and the Little Angel by Otfried Preussler
© Thienemann
Every child knows Otfried Preussler's "The Little Witch", "The Robber Hotzenplotz" or "The Little Ghost".
The youth book "Krabat" is also one of the most successful German-language youth books and was filmed in 2008 with Daniel Brühl and David Kross.
But did you know that the writer, who was born in the former Czechoslovakia, also wrote a beautiful Christmas story?
Once upon a time there was a little donkey who was only recently born.
In winter his mother warmed him with her breath.
Sometimes, while he was going to sleep, she would tell him the story of the donkey that warmed the baby Jesus with its breath in the stable in Bethlehem.
When the donkey wakes up one morning, his mother has disappeared!
But a little angel knows where the mother is: with the baby Jesus, at the manger in the stable.
Together they set off and experience the miracle of Christmas.
Thienemann
Otfried Preussler "The Little Donkey and the Little Angel"
2015, Thienemann Verlag ISBN-13 978-3522437790
Price: hardcover €15, 32 pages – Buy now (promotional link)
5. Christmas book classic for children: "Christmas with Astrid Lindgren"
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Christmas with Astrid Lindgren
© Oetinger
Last but not least, of course, the grande dame of children's literature belongs in the top 5 of the best Christmas children's book classics: Astrid Lindgren.
The "Christmas with Astrid Lindgren" edition contains the most beautiful Christmas and winter stories of the well-known characters Pippi Longstocking, Michel from Lönneberga, Madita, the children from Bullerbü and more.
Gingerbread, the smell of cinnamon and dancing around the Christmas tree!
The big Christmas house book with the most beautiful stories by Astrid Lindgren.
Pippi Longstocking has such a big heart that she gives all the other children presents for Christmas.
Madita has to stay in bed with a cold while her little sister Lisabet gets lost in the snowy forest.
The children from Bullerbü romp through the snow and dance around the tree, Michel from Lönneberga celebrates and the gnome Tomte Tummetott guards the house when everyone is sleeping.
For decades, Astrid Lindgren's Christmas stories have been making children's waiting time more enjoyable and are compiled here in a high-quality anthology.
With many colored pictures and gold foil on the cover.
Contains the Christmas classics: • Pelle moves out • Lotta can do almost anything • Polly helps grandmother • It's good,
that there are Christmas holidays, said Madita • Tomte Tummetott • A calf falls from the sky • Look, Madita, it's snowing!
• Pippi Longstocking celebrates Christmas • Christmas in the stable • Christmas at Birkenlund • Tomte and the fox • Christmas in Bullerbü • Don't skimp, said Michel from Lönneberga • Pippi plunders the Christmas tree
Oetinger
Astrid Lindgren "Christmas with Astrid Lindgren"
2013, Oetinger Verlag ISBN-13 978-3789141843
Price: hardcover €25, 256 pages – Buy now (promotional link)
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If you don't just want to read Christmas children's book classics at Christmas, but you and your children are more in the mood for current works, you should definitely be enchanted by Francesca Cavallo's "The Miracle of R.".
Rubric list image: © Ramon Lopez/Imago