10 Books to Give Instead of a Toy This Year
There is a moment on Christmas morning that tells you everything.
A child opens a book, says thank you in the voice they have been taught to use, and puts it down to get to the next parcel. It is not rudeness. It is a verdict, and it is usually right.
That moment is not an argument against giving books. It is an argument against giving the wrong one. The ten below were picked on a single test: does it come back out before the end of the holidays.
Ten books in three groups. Ratings are live Amazon ratings, never ours.
- 1
A bedtime book that names the stepsBest if you only buy one thing - 2
A goodnight book for the anxious sleeperBest for the child who hates the dark - 3
A board book about hands and teethBest for the biting stage - 4
An eight book set on one feeling eachBest value in the whole list - 5
A picture book that treats moods as normalBest for a first conversation about feelings - 6
A story about a big feeling arrivingBest for ages four to seven - 7
A first emotions book for toddlersBest for under threes - 8
A self regulation workbook to write inBest for a child who says books are boring - 9
A boxed set that reads like a comicBest for a reluctant reader - 10
Coloured reading strips for the pageBest stocking sized extra
Group one
The ones that get read again the same week
The books that come back out are almost never the impressive ones. They are short, they have a rhythm a child can predict, and they are about something happening tonight rather than something happening in a kingdom.
A bedtime book that walks through the actual steps is doing two jobs at once. It is a story, and it is a quiet script for the twenty minutes you are both dreading. That is why this one gets asked for again while the beautiful hardback stays on the shelf.
Bedtime (Toddler Tools® Board Books)
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For a child who does not like the dark, a goodnight book carries more weight than it looks like it should. It gives the night a shape and an ending. We go further into why the fear arrives when it does in why bedtime suddenly feels scary.
And one for a stage rather than an age. Board books about hands and teeth are unglamorous presents, and they are the ones that get read four times a day in the week somebody starts biting.
Group two
The ones that give a feeling a name
A child who can name a feeling has a slightly better chance of surviving it. That is the whole case for this group, and it is a stronger case at Christmas than at any other time of year, because December hands children more feelings than they have words for.
A boxed set with one feeling per book is the best value on this list by a distance. Nobody reads eight of them in one sitting. They get pulled out one at a time on the day that feeling turns up, which is exactly how it should work.
If you would rather give one book than eight, a picture book that treats moods as ordinary weather does the same work more gently. Our longer list of books for big feelings is the place to go if this is the whole reason you are buying.
For four to seven, a story where the feeling arrives as a character lands better than a book that explains. Children argue with explanations. They do not argue with a story.
Under three, keep it to faces and one word a page. A first emotions book is not teaching vocabulary so much as teaching that the wobbly thing has a name at all.
Group three
The ones that are a book and a job at once
This is the group for the child who has already announced that they do not like reading. Arguing with that is a losing game. Handing them a book that is mostly doing is not.
A workbook is a strange present and a very effective one. There is a pen involved, there are pages that get finished, and finishing is the part that keeps them going back. It is worth saying plainly that this only works for a child who is bothered by their own struggle. For anyone else it reads as criticism in wrapping paper.
A boxed set drawn like a comic solves a different problem, which is a reader who can read and would simply rather not. Short chapters, pictures on every page, and eight spines on a shelf that look like an achievement.
The cheapest thing here is also the one teachers ask about most. Coloured strips sit over the line being read and stop the page swimming. If letters are the sticking point rather than interest, the early signs of dyslexia are worth reading before you buy anything at all.
What we would skip this year
A book of whatever they were obsessed with in June. Tie in titles age out faster than the child does, and a six month old obsession is usually over by the time the paper is off.
The beautiful oversized hardback. It photographs well and it is too heavy for a four year old to fetch on their own, which means it only gets read when you suggest it. The books that win are the ones they can carry.
A book that is really aimed at you. If the point of the gift is to fix a behaviour, the child works that out on page two. Buy the parenting book separately and read it yourself. Our guide to choosing one is a better starting place than the children’s shelf.
The honest caveat: we have not read every title here to every age it suits. Ratings are live Amazon ratings pulled from our product library rather than typed in by us, and picks are chosen on whether a book gets opened twice.
More gift guides by age and need
Questions parents ask
Is a book a boring Christmas present for a child?
Only if it is the wrong book or the only present. A book lands best when it sits next to something else and when it matches a stage the child is actually in. Short books, box sets and anything with a pen involved do far better than one long story chosen for how it looks.
What age is a boxed book set really for?
Most feelings box sets are written for roughly four to eight, but they work younger when an adult is reading aloud and older when the child reads one alone. The advantage of a set is that you are not betting on a single title landing, which is the usual way a book gift fails.
How many books is too many to give at once?
Three separate titles is about the ceiling on one morning. Past that they stop being read and start being a pile. A box set is the exception, because it is opened as one gift and then rationed out over weeks, which is the reason it keeps working into the spring.
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I'm for the parent about to spend money they're not sure about. I buy the gadget, live with it, and give you the honest verdict - including the 'don't'. I've burned through enough hype to save you the cash, and when something truly earns its place, I'll show you exactly why.
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