Books like Madeline's Christmas
By Ludwig Bemelmans
For the kid who wants to be the one taking care of everyone else, Madeline's Christmas hands the smallest girl in the house the biggest job in it. Wintry, whimsical, and full of Bemelmans' loose, painterly Paris streetscapes, with a current of Christmas magic running underneath the everyday.
Same fairy-tale courage, but The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship by Arthur Ransome sends a plain, unlucky hero out into the world instead of a brave girl at home.
Same rhyme and small-hero courage, but The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson sends its pair out to sea instead of snowy Paris rooftops.
Less parade, more ache. If the big feelings in Madeline's Christmas land, Who Will Comfort Toffle? by Tove Jansson sits with the quiet, lonely side of them.
Every Christmas Eve, hungry trolls knock down Kyri's door and gobble up her family's feast, but this year a boy traveling to Oslo with his pet ice bear might finally put a stop to it.
A small child holds his own with royalty, the way Madeline holds her own with Miss Clavel. May I Bring a Friend? by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers is sillier about it.
Instead of eleven girls in two straight lines, The Bremen-Town Musicians by Ilse Plume gives you four runaway animals scaring off robbers together.
If the rhyme and the twelve little girls in two straight lines hooked your kid, Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans is where that whole world started.
Less lyrical rhyme, more odd little joke, since The Funny Thing by Wanda Gág solves its monster problem with cabbage salads and seed puddings instead of courage.
Another holiday house under threat, though Christmas Trolls by Jan Brett turns the intruders into confused guests instead of villains to scare off.
The same cross-country adventure feeling, but Possum Magic by Mem Fox sends its small hero hunting for food that will make her seen again.
Twelve little girls become seven sisters in The Seven Chinese Sisters by Kathy Tucker, each with her own gift, racing to save the youngest from a dragon.
Less cheerful than the Paris schoolyard, more storybook menace. Snow White by Trina Schart Hyman leans into a real villain before letting good win out.
