During the holiday season, books are often forgotten in the midst of movies and traditions, but books provide a special feeling inside when you read one, being taken to another world. Books written for the holidays take a tradition and bring them into a new level of wonderfulness.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Little Women has been beloved by many generations. It tells a story about the strength of sisterhood and determination. Set at the end of the civil war, the four sisters, Jo, Beth, Amy and Meg, try to do their best to keep afloat in difficult times. This is an excellent book for Christmas because of the value of family inside its pages.

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas By Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is the queen of mystery novels, so its no surprise that her Christmas novel include a bit of murder. Hercule Portrait is charged to find the murderer of the host of a holiday gathering in a locked room mystery. Hercule Portait’s Christmas is a perfect stress reliever when you need to relax with a good mystery to take the edge off.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Everyone knows about Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, but most people have only watched the movie, forgetting the book that came first. Ebener Scrooge had a cynical opinion of Christmas, but when the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, comes to warn him about the grim fate that cynics and sinners receive. Scrooge is told he must change his ways to escape this dire fate. The magic of Scrooge’s transformation is known to everyone, but reading the book takes the reader inside of Scrooge’s mind and experiences.

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen

The Snow Queen is one of Hans Christian Andersen lesser known fairy tales. The story is about two young kids, Gerda and Kay, who get trapped in the schemes of the Snow Queen. The Snow Queen is great to read with younger cousins and siblings, you can go for the dark version if you want a good scare or the tamed down one  for a happy ending.

Miracle On 34th Street by  Valentine Davies

Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies is one of the most beloved Christmas movies with a timeless feel, the book however is even better. The story is a perfect fit for Christmas time with a message of hope as the story follows Doris Walker, Macy’s employee, search for a new Santa Claus for the store as she unknowingly hires Kris Kringle. This is a good book to curl up by the fire with because of the domestic feel within it.

The Nutcracker and The Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffman

Before Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote the famous ballet, The Nutcracker, there was a book written by a Prussian author who wrote the book that served as Tchaikovsky’s muse. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A Hoffman is about a young girl named Marie who was gifted a nutcracker doll that comes to life in the middle of the night to fight a war against the mouse king whose wife put a curse on the nutcracker. This book is a nice twist from the well known ballet.