Oh my goodness! I hope I’m not too late with Santa’s Countdown to Christmas, but this book is so sweet and fun I’m going to write about it anyway!
Santa’s Countdown to Christmas: 24 Days of Stories
Kim Thompson
Élodie Duhameau
Crackboom! Books, 2022
60 pages
3-6 years (but I’d go as high as 8 years old!)
Opening Lines
Santa Claus has gathered all the elves in the toy workshop for a big meeting. Christmas is coming, and they have exactly twenty-four days to get ready.
Synopsis
This delightful book is a countdown from December 1st to Christmas Eve. It’s all about the day-to-day happenings at Santa’s place in the North Pole as Santa, Mrs. Claus, the reindeer and all the elves get ready for the big day.
As you can see below, each spread has a beautiful, bright illustration with some text describing the highlight of the day.
What I Love About Santa’s Countdown to Christmas
The book can be read in one go or day-by-day throughout December. It works very well either way, as each little story is more of an amusing moment in Santa’s life. But altogether it makes for a complete story!
Santa’s days are filled with workout sessions, reading letters from children around the world, Tek the Elf and his wacky new inventions, testing stuffed animals for huggability, tasting the Christmas baking, taking the reindeer out for exercise and lots more!
I think any child reading this book will be enchanted with all the ins-and-outs of Santa and Mrs. Claus’s lives. I know I would have been as a kid!
One of the cutest parts of the story are Santa’s expressions. He says things like “Gallopin’ gravy!” and “Cracklin’ candy canes!” There’s a different expression on each day. I love it!
I highly recommend this book for the pre-school to Grade 1 set, but honestly, I think it will appeal to some older children, too!
A little extra info: The book is written and illustrated by Canadians and published in Canada, as well! In fact, the author lives on Saltspring Island here in BC, just a short ferry ride from my own home, which I thought was kind of cool!
Story Extensions:
If you’re looking for some free Christmas activities to go along with Santa’s Countdown to Christmas, I have lots!
- Christmas word search and colouring page
- Although gnomes weren’t mentioned in the story, I do have a Christmas gnome colouring page, as well.
- Here are some free Santa-themed writing papers your kids might like to use for their letters to Santa.
- I have lots of cute Christmas poems.
- And more poems here.
- Here are some digital Christmas stickers that are perfect to use in the classroom.
- Christmas calendar cards
- Santa Claus and Christmas Tree countdown to Christmas printable.
- Gingerbread math games.
- In fact I have way too much free stuff to link to individually, so if you’re looking for more then just click right here for 5 pages worth of ideas.
A big thank you to NetGalley and Crackbook! Books for a readers copy. This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!
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