Books like Eloise at Christmastime
By Kay Thompson
For the kid who treats every ordinary room like a stage and every errand like an event, this one matches that energy scene for scene. Bustling, glamorous, giddy with holiday energy.
A little star loves the giant Mooncake she bakes with her mama in the sky, and though she's told to wait, she can't resist sneaking nibble after nibble.
A girl who loves gorillas longs for her too-busy father to take her to see one, until the night before her birthday brings an extraordinary, moonlit visitor.
A young donkey finds a magic pebble that grants wishes, but a panicked wish during a scary encounter with a lion turns him into a rock — with no way to wish himself back.
When every girl at the Paris boarding school falls sick on Christmas Eve, the smallest and bravest one stays well enough to take charge — and finds unexpected help from a magical rug-selling merchant.
A great-grandson wanders through his grandfather's topiary garden, where hedges shaped like a farmboy, a soldier, and a chickenpox-covered kid retell a whole lifetime one memory at a time.
A boy afraid to go to school rides his grandfather's 1952 Ford time machine back through Big Papa's own frightening moments, hearing the same lesson each time: that's called being brave.
A janitor and his loyal dog, cramped and weary of their crowded one-room life, accept a mysterious bird's offer of paradise on a floating island — only to discover the price of that easy life.
A spider sets off on a dangerous journey and is rescued in turn by his six sons — then faces a puzzle: which son deserves the glowing reward he found?
A girl and her house full of rescued, misfit creatures grow restless and decide to move on — but when every one of her careful plans falls apart, she has to find another way forward.
A carpenter named Caleb gets into a spat with his wife Kate, then wakes up transformed into a dog — unable to speak or explain who he really is, so he stays close to her as her loyal companion.
A girl named Treva notices her family's Christmas decorations and presents mysteriously vanishing, and when she tracks down the culprit, she finds two trolls who have never had a Christmas of their own.
Swept away from his family tree, a stick creature is fetched by a dog, thrown by a child, turned into a snowman's arm, and nearly burned on a fire before Santa Claus steps in to help him get home for Christmas.
