When I recently asked my students about their favorite Christmas traditions, one that popped up over and over was baking and decorating Christmas cookies. It was my favorite too, so I decided to gather up some of the best picture books about Christmas cookies. This is a fun Christmas booklist that has a little twist. They are perfect for reading before or after baking Christmas cookies with your little ones or preschool class.
This preschool booklist contains affiliate links.
Cookies For Santa by America’s Test Kitchen was much better than I expected! The story is a sweet story about how Santa has lost his family cookbook and can’t find the recipe for the special cookies he makes for Mrs.Claus and the elves every year. I love how this turns Santa into a person just like the rest of us trying so hard to make Christmas memorable for those we love without magic, just hard work, love, and a little help from others. The illustrations by Joanna Tarkela make this book, don’t miss it!
Christmas Cookies for Santa – Touch & Feel Children’s Christmas Board Book by Holly Berry Byrd is precisely what you think it will be. Fun, interactive, and it smells GOOD! There are textures to feel, smells to smell, and things to slide and flip. It also has a sweet story toddlers, and young preschoolers will like. Great book for a plane ride over the holidays!
Cookiesaurus Christmas by Nate Evans is hilarious, and your students or kiddos will think so too, I promise. Cookiesaurus wants to be chosen as one of the cookies left for Santa, but when he isn’t, he tries his best to change that! If you are a preschool teacher like me, you know how many of your students love anything dinosaur, and this book taps into that with such heart and humor! Get this book. I can’t wait to read it to my students.
A World of Cookies For Santa by M.E. Furman is a long but fantastic book. The concept is simple, you follow Santa’s Christmas Eve journey around the globe and learn a little about the celebrations in each location. Who brings the gifts, and what treats do the children leave for them. This book was too long for my students to read in one sitting. Instead, I chose to focus on a few countries per continent. As far as accuracy goes when reading a book like this, it’s important to clarify that even in specific countries, not everyone leaves this type of cookie or drink… and then use that as your post-book discussion. I grew up in Canada, and I did NOT leave Santa Nanaimo bars. I would and still do eat them at Christmas, but Santa got sugar cookies! This doesn’t make the book wrong. It is just another opportunity to celebrate the many differences in every group. There are several recipes at the back of the book to bake some wonderful Christmas cookies after reading.
Tough Cookie by Edward Hemingway is a fun and silly book that is perfect for preschool when kids need something very engaging to pay attention to. In the story, Fox visits the land of Holiday Treats, and as soon as he gets there, he sees Sugar Cookie ready to be eaten. Sugar Cookie runs away with Fox close on his heels and quickly gets caught. Fox takes a bite and… ew! Sugar Cookie does not taste good at all… what is there to do when you are a cookie that doesn’t taste yummy? You’ll have to read the book, but trust me, it’s good, and it celebrates the joy of being seen and loved for who we are.
Christmas Cookie Day by Tara Knudsen is a little rhyming book that goes through the process of baking Christmas cookies and then what we use them for during the holidays. The rhyming text makes this a great book to read at circle time or one-on-one with a toddler or young preschooler.
Grandma’s Sugar Cookie by Rose Rossner is a scrumptious little board book. With a Christmas baking theme, each page is a different grandmother and grandchild pair baking holiday treats. Simple right? Yes, but here is what makes this book stand out from the crowd; another name refers to every grandmother; Gran, Grandma, Mimi, Nanny, and more! I love that and will definitely be using this in my class when we talk about grandparents and the wide variety of names we all call them.
A Cookie For Santa by Stephanie Shaw is a sweet story to get into the holiday spirit. Children have left a gingerbread boy for Santa on Christmas Eve. When Santa gets there, he joins in the cleanup, and instead of eating the gingerbread boy, he invites him to come to help him for the rest of the night! Still, while awaiting his fate, the gingerbread boy saves Christmas by distracting two very destructive puppies intent on ripping up everything.
Mouse’s Christmas Cookie by Patricia Thomas is so simple I think some adults may overlook it. The whole story is about a little mouse that sneaks one of Santa’s cookies and the cat who chases him all around the house. He eventually catches up to him and … well, I won’t wreck the end for you, but it’s sweet! Children find this book hilarious and love helping to read the repetitive text.
Need more Christmas booklists for preschool?
Here are a few of my favorite booklists with Christmas books!
Best Christmas Board Books for Toddlers <– my 2 and 3-year-olds adored these books. See the whole list here.
Looking to have Christmas books that go beyond the stereotypical? These diverse Christmas books are what we all need in our classrooms and homes. See the whole list here.
Nancy says
Thank you so much for the list of cookie stories. I just realized that among my many Christmas books, I did not have a single one about cookies. I just ordered several from Amazon.
Thanks,
Nancy
Allison McDonald says
I hope you like them as much as we did!