Book recommendation for December 2025: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” by Dr. Seuss
A Christmas classic first published in 1957 that has a truly timeless message at its heart. Not just for kids, it is at its brilliant best when read aloud (to children or adults).
What it’s about: The Grinch hates Christmas, the whole Christmas season because, it’s thought, his heart is two sizes too small. As Christmas approaches he has a wonderfully awful idea to stop it from happening and to prevent the Who’s down in Whoville from celebrating the gift-giving season: he’ll steal Christmas!
Why I love it: It’s such a fun read and is definitely best read aloud. Dr. Seuss had a wonderful way with language, the rhymes and his invented words add a rich and humorous quality and there are so many brilliant lines that bring a smile to my face, but, like many picture books, it still carries an important message. I dare you to read it and not get those warm Christmas ‘feels’!
Beyond the book: The Jim Carey movie is one of my favourite Christmas films, which my wife and I watch on Christmas Eve each year, and has been since I saw it when it first came out in the cinema for my brother’s birthday, I didn’t actually read the book until I had children. It’s now become a holiday tradition for us to read it (many times and always aloud) during December. My kids love it and so do I, and it delivers a timely reminder about what’s really important at this time of year. It also contains perhaps my favourite line in any picture book I’ve read (and there’s seriously stiff competition in that regard):
“Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more.”
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