With the Christmas and holiday season right around the corner, we wanted to take one more trip to our public library to stock up on some books to keep us busy during the holiday season.
So I wanted to show you what we have in our:
We are lucky enough to have a wonderful library that has a lot of books for adults downstairs and then a great children’s library upstairs.
I am a big lover of cozy mysteries (mystery books that are not overly violent and often feature a sleuth who is not a professional in the business.) Luckily, our library has a wide selection of these types of books.
My cozy mystery choice for over the holidays is:
“Gingerbread Cookie Murder” by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine and Leslie Meier
This book is really unique because it contains three different stories in one book and they all have to deal with murder and gingerbread. (How is that for a niche book subject?)
The first story is “Gingerbread Cookie Murder” by Joanne Fluke.
Fluke is the author of the Hannah Swensen novels that feature the owner of a bakery as the heroine of the books. (Some of the books have been made into movies for the Hallmark Channel and feature Alison Sweeny in the role.)
This time Hannah finds her neighbor murdered with a box of her gingerbread cookies nearby. She soon discovers he had a list of enemies longer than her Christmas shopping list. Will Hannah be able to solve the crime?
The second story is “The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies” by Laura Levine.
Jaine Austen has been recruited to help her parents’ retirement community play when the actor playing the gingerbread cookie falls to his death during the play. Was it an accident or something more? It is up to Jaine to find out.
The final story is “Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots” by Leslie Meier.
Lucy Stone discovers the body of the father of a five-year-old boy who had gone missing. When gingerbread cookie crumbs that Lucy gave to the boy are found on the body she sets off to find the killer before he strikes again.
Honestly I picked up the book because I really wanted to read Fluke’s story, but if I have time I might check out the other two.
When it comes time for Christmas and over the winter I really like to find a sweet romance. Not one of the bodice rippers that features Fabio and some woman half clothed with her hair flapping in the breeze, but a sweet story that is full of heart and gives you the warm and fuzzies.
My go to author is Debbie Macomber.
Some of her books were made into the widely popular drama series “Cedar Cove” on, you guessed it, the Hallmark Channel.
So I picked:
“The Perfect Christmas” by Debbie Macomber
This book I actually started reading as an e-book from our library, but my time was up and the book “poofed” away from my bookshelf when I was only a few chapters in and I thought I would get it in hard copy form and finish it.
When 33 year-old Cassie Beaumont receives a Christmas card from a friend depicting her perfect family, single Cassie decides to take fate into her own hands.
She makes a sizable investment into a very exclusive matchmaker, Simon Dodson, who guarantees a match or your money back.
But before Simon will introduce Cassie to her match, she must complete three holiday tasks: be a charity bell ringer, dress as Santa’s elf at a children’s party and prepare a traditional turkey dinner for her family.
Will Cassie be able to complete the tasks and find love? What does Simon have planned for her?
The few chapters I read were really cute and I am looking forward to finishing the book.
Those were the two books that I choose. I am hoping to at least read two of the stories while I am on vacation from work, but with a little one you never know.
For our little bookworm, who also loves to read, I choose mostly Christmas books, except for a book from her favorite series.
“Happy Pig Day” by Mo Williams
This book, that is part of the Elephant & Piggie series, teaches children about how to include their friends.
When Piggie is celebrating the very special Pig Day, Gerald her elephant pal starts to feel left out. Will Piggie notice and find a way to include Gerald in the festivities?
Lily loves these series of books that feature very few words on each page and almost always garner a laugh from the little readers.
“The Animal’s Santa” by Jan Brett
I was immediately drawn to the books because of the beautiful illustrations. Lily and I previously read another book by Brett and we enjoyed the illustrations. Because there is a lot of text on each page for pre-schoolers, the intricate illustrations help distract the little bookworms and make them less antsy while you read.
The books tells the story of Little Snow, a white rabbit who is celebrating his first Christmas, as he learns who is the Santa for the animals.
On Christmas Eve, Big Snowshoe, who is Little Snow’s big brother, figures out a way for the animals to catch a glimpse of Santa.
“Henry the Christmas Cat” by Mary Calhoun and illustrated by Erick Ingraham
If you have read Mousekatots before, then you know that we have two sweet kitties. So, anytime there is a book that features a cat we snatch it up. So when we found a book that featured a cat and Christmas we had to check it out.
In this book, Henry is a Siamese cat that follows his family everywhere. When he finds out that his boy is acting in a Christmas play he decides he wants to see what this is all about and sets out to find his family.
On his journey he becomes an accidental shepherd and steps in to save the day and the play.
“Llama Llama Holiday Drama” by Anna Dewdney
If you have a little one then you are probably familiar with the Llama Llama books.
In this story Llama Llama is struggling to remain patient for Christmas to arrive while he helps with all the holiday preparations like decorating, shopping and making Christmas cookies.
This is something all little ones can identify with.
“On This Special Night” by Claire Freedman and Simon Mendez
For us, teaching Lily the reason for the season is something that is important.
We have a few books that take on this subject, but I really liked that this story was told from the perspective of the animals that were in the manger when Jesus was born.
Little Cat and Mother Cat end up joining the other animals that are going toward the special light that lead them to a very important someone who embodies peace, love and joy.
So, those are the books that we chose from the library to enjoy during the holidays.
What is your favorite holiday book or what books do you plan on reading over the holidays? Leave a comment below.
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