The “24 books of Christmas” tradition is simple: each day of Advent, your child unwraps or opens one story. It builds a reading habit right through the busiest month of the year. Here is a free plan you can use as it is, or mix with library books.
How to set it up
- Wrap or number: wrap library and shelf books, or write the free titles on 24 paper slips in an envelope or jar.
- Keep it short on school nights: save longer stories for weekends.
- Track it: print the free Christmas reading tracker and colour in a box each day.
Days 1–8: picture books and poems
- Ten Little Ornaments
- Red and Green
- Snowflake, Snowflake
- The Little Gingerbread Man
- Add the Ornaments
- Why Does It Snow?
- Twelve Days of Counting
- Snowflakes Have Six Sides
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Days 9–16: stories and traditions
- The Nativity Story
- Is There a Santa Claus? (Yes, Virginia)
- The Journey to Bethlehem
- “The Elves and the Shoemaker” from Grimms’ Fairy Tales
- Christmas in Sweden (St. Lucia Day is 13 December)
- Why Is Christmas on December 25?
- “The Fir Tree” from Andersen’s Fairy Tales
- ’Round the Yule-Log
Days 17–24: the great classics
- “The Selfish Giant” from The Happy Prince and Other Tales
- The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (first chapters)
- The Birds’ Christmas Carol
- A Christmas Carol, Stave 1
- Stave 2
- Stave 3
- Stave 4 and 5
- Christmas Eve: A Visit from St. Nicholas
Adjust it for older kids
For ages 10+, swap in one longer book a week, such as Little Women’s Christmas chapters, and use the daily slot for a Pagine Original from their grade, such as Stringing Lights with Pythagoras (Grade 8) or The Tree from Halifax (Grade 10).
Missed a day? Read two the next night. The point is the habit and the cosy time together, not a perfect calendar.
Every story on this list is free in Pagine. Count the books your child reads all December.