Now that Halloween and Guy Fawkes are out of the way, I feel it’s okay to start using the “C” word, right?
And if you’re the type of person (like my sister) who begins preparing for Christmas as soon as she’s back from her summer holiday, then this list of Christmas books for 5 year olds will be right up your street.
I’m fully aware that Christmas is not for everyone and I’m not one to yuck someone’s yum (very much adopt a ‘you do you’ attitude to most things nowadays). BUT I do think Christmas is for 5 year olds.
There’s nothing that makes you appreciate the Christmas magic like a 5 year old. Although sharing a Christmas story with them comes pretty close.
These are six Christmas books for 5 year olds, all short chapter books with pictures. Four are on our shelf at 5 and two at 6, for a 5 year old who’s racing ahead. There are more Christmas ones for 6 year olds further down.
If they’re after chapter books the rest of the year too, my chapter books for 5 year olds list has more, and our books for 5 year olds shelf has the lot.
The best Christmas books for 5 year olds
Daisy and the Trouble with Christmas
Daisy and the Trouble with Christmas
Something went wrong at the school nativity this afternoon. Mrs Peters says Daisy has let everyone down. Daisy points out that Mrs Peters is the one who told her to carry the baby Jesus over to Mary and rock him first.
You don’t find out what actually happened for ages. Daisy has a lot of other business to get through first, including a Christmas list that asks for a bike that fires torpedoes and a quite fluffy hamster.
Daisy tells it herself, and she’s always sure she’s in the right. On our shelf at 5.
Christmas in Enchantia
Magic Ballerina – Christmas in Enchantia
This is the Christmas one in Darcey Bussell’s Magic Ballerina series. It’s Christmas Eve and Delphie is about to dance a bit of The Nutcracker with her ballet class. Then, waiting in the dark to go on stage, her red ballet shoes start to glow.
They whisk her off to Enchantia, where King Rat has kidnapped the elves who wrap the royal presents and turned every tree in the land into a cactus. Delphie and the Sugar Plum Fairy have until the royal banquet to sort it out.
For the 5 year old who goes to ballet on a Saturday. On our shelf at 5.
The Berenstain Bears Meet Santa Bear
The Berenstain Bears Meet Santa Bear
The shops are decorated, the TV is full of toy adverts, and Sister Bear wants ALL of it. A teddy that hugs you back. A ride-on pink pony. Something called Giggly Goo.
Then Brother points out that Santa Bear has every cub in the world to think about. What if he thinks she’s greedy? Sister remembers the broken lamp and the big fib that followed, and writes a new, shorter list.
A Christmas worry most 5 year olds will recognise, with a kind ending. On our shelf at 5.
Magnificent Mabel and the Christmas Elf
Magnificent Mabel and the Christmas Elf
At Christmas, Mabel says, she can’t help being a sweety heart. Then her sister Meg comes home with presents for everyone, and Mabel remembers she spent her pocket money on a toy stethoscope for herself.
So at midnight she creeps downstairs with some “recycled” presents. That’s when the naughty light-up elf on the tree winks at her and starts giving orders. Of course it’s ALL the elf’s fault.
Three stories in one book, and the fun is spotting the gap between Mabel’s version and what’s really going on. On our shelf at 5.
Christmas with Princess Mirror-Belle
Christmas with Princess Mirror-Belle
Ellen checks her swan costume in the changing room mirror, and her reflection tells her off for letting the sorcerer get her too. That’s Mirror-Belle. She looks exactly like Ellen and she is nothing like her.
There are two stories. In the second it’s Christmas Eve, Ellen is dressed as Sleeping Beauty for a party, and Mirror-Belle turns up in long white gloves.
Julia Donaldson, for a 5 year old who’s ready for a bit more. On our shelf at 6.
Christmas Fairy Magic
Fairy Bell Sisters 06 – Christmas Fairy Magic
The Fairy Bell Sisters are Clara, Rosy, Goldie, Sylva and baby Squeak, and they’re Tinker Bell’s little sisters. Yes, THAT Tinker Bell. Ten days before Christmas, a magic message arrives in a shower of sparkling crystals. Tink is coming home, and she’ll bring the tree, the decorations and every single present.
The sisters just have to promise not to lift a finger. Which is much harder than it sounds, and Tink still hasn’t turned up.
A Christmas countdown with five sisters to choose a favourite from. On our shelf at 6.
More Christmas books for 6 year olds
Christmas Crackers is a Penguin Pandemonium book. Five penguins who’ve been told Christmas isn’t for them hide in Santa’s sack and end up at an infant school on the last day of term.
Amelia Bedelia Wraps It Up is the Christmas one where her father wants to trim the tree and she offers to shorten it.
Horrid Henry’s Christmas Cracker is four stories, from Henry’s one-word part in the nativity to a Christmas lunch where the roast potatoes explode.
Crackers! is Dirty Bertie’s Christmas one. It starts with a nativity audition done in a pirate hat, and Bertie’s dog Whiffer ends up in the play.
The Twelve Burps of Christmas is George Brown, Class Clown at Christmas, with a snowflake costume, a Rudolph jumper and the worst-timed burps of the year.
For an older brother or sister
My Christmas books for 8 year olds list is the one for the bigger readers in the house.
Just so you know…
All eleven books on this page are in Little Reads, a library app of 3,000+ hand-picked books for children aged 5 to 11, with no ads. There are 100+ free books on a free account. The full library is £7.99 a month after a 7-day free trial. Cancel anytime.
It’s a library and not a classroom, so there’s no phonics and no learning to read. It’s for the 5 year old who already loves books and has asked how many sleeps it is.