School Counseling Books For December
Using picture books in school counseling is a great way to keep your students engaged while having meaningful conversations about important social-emotional topics. Thankfully, there are many picture books with social-emotional themes that you can incorporate into your counseling lessons.
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Below, you can find my favorite school counseling books to use in December. They cover important themes such as kindness, generosity, and friendship while engaging students with stories about Christmas and other winter holidays!
Wombat Divine By Mem Fox
Recommended grades: Pre-K to 1
Topics it covers: Persistence, Friendship
Wombat was so excited about being in the Christmas play. That is, until Emu started assigning the roles. Nothing that Wombat wanted to do would work for him. Just when he felt like giving up, his friends found the perfect role for him - Baby Jesus!
Sesame Street: Home For The Holidays
Recommended grades: Pre-K to 2
Topics it covers: Diversity
Readers will follow characters from Sesame Street as they are shown celebrating different holidays and traditions like Kwanzaa, Eid-Al-Fitr, Christmas, Chinese New Year, and so much more. The focus of the book is all about the similarities of our celebrations and the meanings behind them - no matter how different they may look. The holidays aren't explicitly discussed in the book, but there is information about each one in the back!
The Littlest Elf By Brandi Dougherty
Recommended grades: Pre-K to 2
Topics it covers: Perseverance, Self-Esteem, Kindness
It was time for Oliver Elf to find his special job in Santa’s workshop. He starts to get discouraged when he realizes that he is too small to do the traditional jobs. He ends up meeting a little reindeer that’s just his size, and they work together to bring Christmas cheer to the North Pole.
Li’l Rabbit’s Kwanzaa by Donna L. Washington
Recommended grades: K to 2
Topics it covers: Kindness, Community
Li’l Rabbit is sad because his Granna Rabbit is sick and his family won’t get to celebrate the Karamu feast during Kwanzaa. He decides to bring the feast to Granna Rabbit, and spends the day looking for things to bring. Unfortunately, he doesn’t find anything. But, along the way he spreads news of Granna Rabbit’s sickness to the other animals. When they hear of this, they reflect on the kind things that Granna Rabbit has done for them, and decide to come together to do big for her.
How Santa Got His Job By Stephen Krensky
Recommended grades: K to 2
Topics it covers: Perseverance, Career Education
Santa was looking for the perfect job. He went through many jobs, but couldn’t find one that was just right for him. However, he did get to learn along the way about what he likes. This helped him land the best job of all - working with his reindeer and elves to deliver toys to boys and girls all over the world.
A Wish To Be A Christmas Tree By Colleen Monroe
Recommended grades: 1 to 3
Topics it covers: Kindness, Friendship, Self-Esteem
The tall tree at the Christmas tree farm is discouraged because he’ll never be picked to be someone’s Christmas tree. The woodland animals all come together to show him how special he is to them, and they decorate him as their very own Christmas tree. Check out these activities to use with the book!
A Hanukkah With Mazel By Joel Edward Stein
Recommended grades: 1 to 3
Topics it covers: Generosity, Friendship
Misha is a poor artist who barely has enough to make ends meet. When Hanukkah rolls around, he isn’t sure if he’ll even have enough money and materials to be able to celebrate. However, he finds that he has just enough to have a wonderful Hanukkah celebration for himself and his new cat friend, Mazel. In the end, Mazel becomes one of Misha’s greatest blessings.
Redheaded Robbie’s Christmas Story By Bill Luttrell
Recommended Grades: 1 to 3
Topics it covers: Friendship, Kindness, Worry/Anxiety
Robbie was selected to read a Christmas story at the school assembly. This made Robbie nervous because sometimes he had a hard time saying the right words, especially when he was feeling uncomfortable. When he was preparing his story, he went to his friends for help. As it turns out, Robbie ended up helping them, which made for the best Christmas story ever.
Red And Green And Blue And White by Lee Wind
Recommended Grades: 1 to 3
Topics It Covers: Diversity, Kindness
Isaac’s family is the only one in the neighborhood who celebrates Hanukkah. Everyone else, including Teresa’s family, celebrates Christmas. When Issac’s window is broken in an act of hatred, Teresa does something powerful to show kindness and unity to Issac’s family. Soon, more and more people join in to make it a holiday celebration they won’t forget.
Silver Packages By Cynthia Rylant
Recommended grades: 1 to 3
Topics it covers: Kindness, Generosity, Compassion
Each year, the Christmas Train comes through the hills of Appalachia. On the train is a rich man who once received help from the people in the town. To pay them back, every Christmas he hands out silver packages of gifts to the children in the town. Frankie is a young boy who looks forward to the Christmas Train each year and hopes to receive a toy doctor kit. Frankie never receives his doctor kit, but he does get what he needs to keep warm. Frankie is thankful for the gifts, but always a little disappointed that he doesn’t get what he really wants. When Frankie comes back to the town as an adult, we learn that because the rich man supplied for Frankie’s needs, he was able to grow up to be a doctor with a real-life doctor kit of his own!
A World Of Cookies For Santa By M.E. Furman
Recommended grades: 1 to 4
Topics it covers: Cultural diversity
Follow Santa to see all of the treats that boys and girls all over the world leave him. This is a great book about cultural diversity as you see the way that over 10 cultures celebrate Christmas. The book also comes with recipes for delicious cookies that will make your lesson an instant hit!
Seven Spools Of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story By Angela Shelf Medearis
Recommended grades: 2 to 4
Topics it covers: Teamwork & Cooperation, Compassion
The seven brothers are constantly arguing. When their father dies, they find that he is leaving their inheritance to the poor unless the brothers can complete a seemingly impossible task: Turn different colored thread into gold. Determined, they are able to work together without arguing to create beautiful cloth that they can sell for gold. In the end, they are able to keep their inheritance, but find a way to help the poor as well!
The Wild Christmas Reindeer By Jan Brett
Recommended Grades: 2 to 4
Topics it covers: Leadership, Patience, Kindness
It was Teeka’s job to get the reindeer ready to fly for Santa. To make sure everything went right, Teeka yelled at and bossed the reindeers trying to get them to do what she wanted them to do. Unfortunately, this only left the reindeer feeling upset and unable to perform in their practices. Once Teeka realized that she needed to replace her bossy leadership style with gentleness and kindness, she was finally able to get the reindeer ready for their big performance.
These books are a great way to ensure that your counseling lessons are engaging and effective as you celebrate the holidays this December! If you are looking for more book ideas, you’ll want to sign up below to get your free list of 120 social emotional picture books.
