New: 24 Doors, a free advent calendar by email.Join free

Free printable tags · ages 2 to 8

Book advent calendar

A wrapped book every night until Christmas Eve, and you don't have to BUY 24 of them.

You can make one for nothing, or for the price of one new book, by borrowing, swapping and rewrapping the ones you already own. There are 24 numbered tags to print, a reading log to color in, and 24 picture books sorted by age if you need ideas.

How to make oneThe 24 tagsBooks by age
222324

On any budget

How to make a book advent calendar

You need 24 wrapped books, some tags and a place to pile them. Half the fun is the unwrapping, so the books don't have to be new, only wrapped.

Where the books come from

  • Free

    From the library

    Borrow them in two trips, twelve at the end of November and twelve in mid December, so none are due back before their night. Ask first how many books one card can take out at a time.

  • Free

    Swapped with friends

    Two families each wrap twelve books from their own shelves and swap them in late November. Every child gets twelve they haven't read yet, and in January the books go home.

  • Free

    From your own shelf

    Wrap the ones you already have. A book they haven't seen since summer feels brand new in wrapping paper, and an old favorite is a lovely thing to unwrap too.

  • The price of one book

    One new book for Christmas Eve

    If you buy only one, make it number 24. A book that happens on Christmas Eve, read on Christmas Eve, is hard to beat.

You can mix them, too. A pile from the library, a few from your shelf, a couple swapped and one new one at the very end add up to 24 without much trouble.

Wrap, number, open

  1. 1Wrap themBrown paper, newspaper, last year's leftovers or a sheet your child painted all work. Put library books in a paper bag, or tape the paper only to itself, so no tape touches the book.
  2. 2Number themTie on our tags, 1 to 24. Put the snowy books first and the Christmas ones near the end, keep a short one for a busy night, and save the Christmas Eve book for 24.
  3. 3Pile them up where they can see themA basket by the bed works, or a stack under the tree, so they can watch the pile go down.
  4. 4Open one a nightAt bedtime they find the book with tonight's number, unwrap it and read it with you, then color its spine on the reading log.
  5. 5If you miss a nightOpen two the next night, or let one wait for the weekend, and the books won't tell anyone.
The first page of the 24 numbered tags, twelve tags with their December dates24 numbered tags, freeEach tag has its December date, so book 7 is for December 7 and book 24 for Christmas Eve.

The books left are the sleeps left. On December 1 there are 24 of each, so the pile goes down at the same pace as our countdown. And number 24 fits nicely in a Christmas Eve box, next to the new pajamas.

Print · free, no sign-up

24 tags and a reading log

Print the tags in color to tie straight on, or in black and white for your child to color first. The reading log goes on the fridge, where everyone can watch the shelf fill up. Both come in US Letter and A4.

  • 24 numbered tags

    There are twelve tags to a page, each with its number, its December date and a hole to punch, and number 24 says Christmas Eve on a gold star.

    2 pages · PDF

    ColorUS LetterA4

    Black and whiteUS LetterA4

  • 24 nights of books

    Your child colors one book on the shelf after each story. The 24 lines underneath are for the titles, so you can remember them next year.

    Ages 2 to 8 · 1 page · PDF

    ColorUS LetterA4

    Black and whiteUS LetterA4

Free for home and classroom use. To pass them on, please share the link to this page and not the file.

Need ideas?

24 Christmas and winter picture books, by age

Most of these have been around long enough for a library to be likely to have them, and nine came out in the last ten years. We checked every author, first publisher and year on the publisher's own page or in Open Library's records, and the summaries are ours. Publishers put almost every picture book at 3 to 7 or 4 to 8, so the age groups are our own call, and the longer stories went to 6 to 8. Where a publisher's page prints an age, it's under the book.

The number on each book is its night in our plan, all 24 in one order, snowy ones first and Christmas Eve last. Reading to one child? Take their age's list and fill the other nights from your own shelf. Seven are about winter rather than Christmas, marked Winter, which suits any family's December.

Want this year's new ones, or how long each book takes to read? Our Christmas picture books list has the same 24 with their pages and reading times, and twelve new books besides.

Ages 2 to 3Ages 4 to 5Ages 6 to 8The plan, night by night

Ages 2 to 3 · 6 books

These are short, and most of them rhyme or have flaps to lift.

  • 1

    The Snowy Day

    Ezra Jack Keats

    Winter

    Peter spends a whole day out in fresh city snow, and the next morning there's more. Keats won the Caldecott Medal for it.

    First published
    1962, Viking
    Publisher's age
    2 to 5 (Penguin Random House, paperback)

    Facts from Penguin Random House · Open Library

  • 2

    Little Owl's Snow

    Divya Srinivasan

    Winter

    A young owl watches his first winter come in, as his friends settle down for the season and the first snow falls.

    First published
    2018, Viking Books for Young Readers
    Publisher's age
    3 to 5 (Penguin Random House)

    Facts from Penguin Random House · Open Library

  • 7

    Dear Santa

    Rod Campbell

    It's by the author of Dear Zoo. A child writes to Santa, and the presents come one by one behind flaps until the right one turns up.

    First published
    2004, Little Simon
    Publisher's age
    2 to 4 (Pan Macmillan)

    Facts from Pan Macmillan · Simon & Schuster · Open Library

  • 9

    Little Blue Truck's Christmas

    Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry

    Blue delivers Christmas trees to all his animal friends and keeps the smallest one for himself. It rhymes, and it counts.

    First published
    2014, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

    Facts from Open Library

  • 14

    The Christmas Quiet Book

    Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Renata Liwska

    Animal children in soft pictures show the quiet moments of the season, from peeking at presents to listening for sleigh bells. It's a good one for winding down.

    First published
    2012, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

    Facts from Open Library

  • 17

    Bear Stays Up for Christmas

    Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman

    His friends wake Bear from his winter sleep to get ready for Christmas, and he ends up the only one awake, making presents while they doze.

    First published
    2004, Margaret K. McElderry Books
    Publisher's age
    2 to 4 for the board book, 4 to 8 for the hardcover (Simon & Schuster)

    Facts from Simon & Schuster · Open Library

Ages 4 to 5 · 9 books

Each one has a real story with a twist or two.

  • 3

    The Mitten

    Jan Brett

    Winter

    A boy drops a white mitten in the snow, and one animal after another squeezes inside, each bigger than the last, until something has to give.

    First published
    1989, G.P. Putnam's Sons
    Publisher's age
    3 to 5 (Penguin Random House)

    Facts from Penguin Random House · Open Library

  • 4

    Snowmen at Night

    Caralyn Buehner, illustrated by Mark Buehner

    Winter

    If a snowman looks a little different in the morning, this book knows why. Snowmen sneak out at night to go sledding, race and drink cocoa.

    First published
    2002, Dial
    Publisher's age
    3 to 7 (Penguin Random House)

    Facts from Penguin Random House · Open Library

  • 8

    Pick a Pine Tree

    Patricia Toht, illustrated by Jarvis

    It rhymes its way through the whole tree tradition, from choosing the tree and getting it home to opening the boxes of decorations and switching on the lights.

    First published
    2017, Candlewick
    Publisher's age
    3 to 7 (Candlewick)

    Facts from Candlewick · Open Library

  • 10

    Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree

    Robert Barry

    Mr. Willowby's tree is too tall, so the top gets snipped off and becomes someone else's tree, then someone smaller's, all the way down, and it's all in rhyme.

    First published
    1963, McGraw-Hill
    Publisher's age
    3 to 7 (Penguin Random House)

    Facts from Penguin Random House · Open Library

  • 11

    Red and Lulu

    Matt Tavares

    Two cardinals lose each other when their tree is cut down and taken to New York City to be a giant Christmas tree, and Red searches the whole city for Lulu.

    First published
    2017, Candlewick
    Publisher's age
    3 to 7 (Candlewick)

    Facts from Candlewick · Open Library

  • 15

    Santa Bruce

    Ryan T. Higgins

    Bruce, a very grumpy bear, gets mistaken for Santa, and the whole forest lines up with its wishes. It's funny all the way through.

    First published
    2018, Disney-Hyperion
    Publisher's age
    3 to 5 (Disney Books)

    Facts from Disney Books · Open Library

  • 16

    The Little Reindeer

    Nicola Killen

    A jingle in the snowy woods leads a girl to a lost reindeer and a magic ride by night, with cut-out pages to peek through.

    First published
    2016, Simon & Schuster
    Publisher's age
    4 to 8 (Simon & Schuster)

    Facts from Simon & Schuster · Open Library

  • 19

    The Jolly Christmas Postman

    Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Janet Ahlberg

    Christmas Eve

    On Christmas Eve the postman rides through fairy tale land, and the letters and cards he brings are real ones in envelopes, a little game too, for children to pull out.

    First published
    1991, Heinemann
    Publisher's age
    4 to 8 (Hachette)

    Facts from Hachette · Open Library

  • 22

    Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present

    John Burningham

    Christmas Eve

    A tired Father Christmas finds one present still in his sack and goes by every kind of transport to get it to a boy on top of a faraway mountain before morning.

    First published
    1993, Walker Books
    Publisher's age
    3 to 5 (Walker Books)

    Facts from Walker Books · Open Library

Ages 6 to 8 · 9 books

The stories get longer here, two of them are true, and a few are worth talking about after the light goes out.

  • 5

    Owl Moon

    Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr

    Winter

    A girl and her father walk through the snowy woods on a winter night, very quietly, hoping to call down an owl. Its pictures won the Caldecott Medal.

    First published
    1987, Philomel Books
    Publisher's age
    3 to 7 (Penguin Random House)

    Facts from Penguin Random House · Open Library

  • 6

    Snowflake Bentley

    Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illustrated by Mary Azarian

    Winter

    Wilson Bentley was a Vermont farmer who taught himself to photograph single snowflakes, and this is his true story.

    First published
    1998, Houghton Mifflin

    Facts from Open Library

  • 12

    The Christmas Owl

    Ellen Kalish and Gideon Sterer, illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki

    This one is true too. A small owl was carried to New York inside a giant Christmas tree, and a wildlife rescuer, one of the two authors, looked after it.

    First published
    2021, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
    Publisher's age
    4 to 8 (Hachette)

    Facts from Hachette · Open Library

  • 13

    Night Tree

    Eve Bunting, illustrated by Ted Rand

    Every year a family walks into the forest at Christmas and decorates a tree with food for the wild animals. It may be out of print, so ask your library.

    First published
    1991, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

    Facts from Open Library

  • 18

    The Christmas Boot

    Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

    A lonely old woman finds one warm boot in the snow, and her wishes keep coming true until its owner, in a red suit, knocks at her door.

    First published
    2016, Dial
    Publisher's age
    4 to 8 (Penguin Random House)

    Facts from Penguin Random House · Open Library

  • 20

    Too Many Tamales

    Gary Soto, illustrated by Ed Martinez

    Christmas Eve

    Making tamales on Christmas Eve, Maria tries on her mother's ring, loses it, and gets her cousins to eat every single tamale looking for it.

    First published
    1993, G.P. Putnam's Sons
    Publisher's age
    4 to 8 (Penguin Random House)

    Facts from Penguin Random House · Open Library

  • 21

    The Shortest Day

    Susan Cooper, illustrated by Carson Ellis

    Winter

    It's a short poem about the longest night of the year, when people long ago lit fires and candles to welcome the sun back. In 2026 the shortest day is December 21, which is why it's night 21.

    First published
    2019, Candlewick
    Publisher's age
    4 to 8 (Candlewick)

    Facts from Candlewick · Open Library

  • 23

    The Polar Express

    Chris Van Allsburg

    Christmas Eve

    On Christmas Eve a boy boards a night train to the North Pole and is given the first gift of Christmas, a sleigh bell only believers can hear. The book came first, long before the 2004 film.

    First published
    1985, Houghton Mifflin

    Facts from Open Library · Andersen Press (UK)

  • 24

    The Christmas Book Flood

    Emily Kilgore, illustrated by Kitty Moss

    Christmas Eve

    The story comes from Iceland's Jólabókaflóð, the Christmas book flood. A girl hunts for the perfect book to give her family so they can all spend Christmas Eve reading, which makes it a book advent calendar inside a book.

    First published
    2022, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
    Publisher's age
    4 to 8 (Macmillan)

    Facts from Macmillan · Open Library

The plan, night by night

All 24 in one order

It's for a family reading to children of different ages, or for anyone who'd like the thinking done. Tie tag 1 on the first book and keep going.

  1. 1The Snowy Day · 2 to 3
  2. 2Little Owl's Snow · 2 to 3
  3. 3The Mitten · 4 to 5
  4. 4Snowmen at Night · 4 to 5
  5. 5Owl Moon · 6 to 8
  6. 6Snowflake Bentley · 6 to 8
  7. 7Dear Santa · 2 to 3
  8. 8Pick a Pine Tree · 4 to 5
  9. 9Little Blue Truck's Christmas · 2 to 3
  10. 10Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree · 4 to 5
  11. 11Red and Lulu · 4 to 5
  12. 12The Christmas Owl · 6 to 8
  13. 13Night Tree · 6 to 8
  14. 14The Christmas Quiet Book · 2 to 3
  15. 15Santa Bruce · 4 to 5
  16. 16The Little Reindeer · 4 to 5
  17. 17Bear Stays Up for Christmas · 2 to 3
  18. 18The Christmas Boot · 6 to 8
  19. 19The Jolly Christmas Postman · 4 to 5
  20. 20Too Many Tamales · 6 to 8
  21. 21The Shortest Day · 6 to 8
  22. 22Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present · 4 to 5
  23. 23The Polar Express · 6 to 8
  24. 24The Christmas Book Flood · 6 to 8

For night 24, pick a book that happens on Christmas Eve. From this list, The Jolly Christmas Postman, Too Many Tamales, Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present, The Polar Express and The Christmas Book Flood all do, and so does ours.

Book facts checked 10 Oct 2026 on each publisher's own page and in Open Library's records, linked under each book. We left out covers and shop links on purpose, so take the list to your library.

In the mornings

Books at bedtime, a door at breakfast

24 Doors is our advent calendar by email, one door every morning from December 1 to Christmas Eve. Next to the book pile, that gives December something to open at both ends of the day.

Our own book

The Christmas Secret

A Christmas Eve picture book with a read-along · ages 3 to 7 · out on October 20

Night 24 is the Christmas Eve book, and that's the night our story takes place. A little girl sees Santa's red balloon over the Golden Mountains and runs after it, so it's a good one to wrap last. It starts like this:

In the book's words
This is the story of the best Christmas of my life!

Read it to them yourself, or let the read-along in the book do the reading while you sit on the end of the bed.

Out on October 20See inside the book

Questions

Grown-ups ask

What is a book advent calendar?

It's an advent calendar made of books. Twenty four picture books are wrapped and numbered, and every night from December 1 to Christmas Eve your child unwraps that night's number for the bedtime story, so there's a story behind each door instead of a chocolate.

How many books do you need for a book advent calendar?

Twenty four for December 1 to 24. They don't have to be new, though, and it doesn't even have to be 24. Some families do the twelve nights from December 13, and some just do one book a weekend.

Do the books need to be new?

No. Library books, swapped books and your own books rewrapped all count, and an old favorite is as much fun to unwrap as a new one.

How do you wrap books for a book advent calendar?

In any paper you have, as long as the title doesn't show, with the numbered tag tied on with ribbon or string. Library books are the one exception to tape: wrap them in a paper bag instead.

What age is a book advent calendar for?

Any age that still gets a bedtime story. At 2 or 3 it's board books and short picture books, from 4 to 7 picture books with more story in them, and at 7 or 8 you can mix in a chapter book and read a chapter a night. Our list starts at 2.

What if we start late?

Start with today's number. The tags have the date on them, so on December 10 you begin with tag 10 and need only 15 books. Or wrap the books you have and open two on the weekends until you catch up.

More Christmas

Or see all of them on one page, from the weeks before Christmas to the night itself.