Classical Stocking Stuffers for Growing Readers

The Christmas tree, the nativity, White Christmas, Grandmother's coffee cake and breakfast casserole, big presents and little presents – little and big eyes lighting up with excitement. The stockings in our house, as our children grow and make magic in their own homes, the stockings hold the Christmas magic in our house.

The stockings have held steel flints, Pez dispensers, compasses, bags of M&Ms, gadgets, small puzzles, pens, beads for bracelet making, stuffed cats, pups, lions, and bears—some puppets, some cuddly stuffies. They’ve held gift cards, socks, cologne, pens, locally crafted box turkey calls and duck calls, night lights. . . and books—always a book.

I thought I had come up with the book tradition. Iceland beat me to it. Iceland doesn’t just celebrate Christmas with a book in an “Oh! Yes! We’ve done that for years, don’t you know!” kind-of-way.  They’ve bumped it up into a national symbol as self-identifying as our national bird. Their book-giving tradition even has an official name: Jólabókaflóðið: the Christmas Book Flood. According to Jolabokaflod, “This tradition gained traction during World War II when paper was one of the few items not rationed during World War II” (https://jolabokaflod.org/about/founding-story/). 

Keep in mind—in 1944, there was no television sets. There were radio shows. In the evenings one could knit, quilt, crochet, mend clothing. It was a sit long kind of evening. . . and a good book could take a family member out of the house into an adventure. 

Jólabókaflóðið is even bigger today than in 1944. Icelanders still celebrate Christmas Eve by exchanging books. At the end of the evening, they curl up in their blankets and read. It all sounds so calm and lovely. I can almost see the black sky and the stars twinkling outside a frosted window. However, between the last-minute present wrapping and prepping for Christmas Day feasting, I can only dream of Christmas Eve’s with a comfy blanket and a good book.

Regardless of whether you celebrate on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, the winding down of a house full of family or traveling guests needs a good book, just like it needs a lazy cat.  You might be wondering what books you can stuff into your loved one’s stockings this Christmas Eve. That’s a gift idea I wrestle with all year long. I want to give forever books—not one-and-done books.

I asked Elizabeth Fikes from Highland Rim Academy for book suggestions to help fill all the  family stockings this Christmas.

Mother to Henry, 15, Evelyn, 13, twins Amelia and Helen, 11, and wife to Ben, Fikes teaches American Studies, Composition, Rhetoric II, Senior Thesis, and Great Books VI (modern) at Highland Rim Academy. Books are a part of her everyday ordinary—and a legacy from her mother she is determined to pass down to her children.

“My mother taught high school American literature for thirty years, and her love of great books was one of the most significant inheritances I will ever receive.  For as long as I can remember, our bookshelves teemed with double-stacked books, and each birthday and Christmas involved receiving a book (or a few) as a gift,” Fikes said. “I did not understand at the time what a gift my parents were giving me.  When I was young, I would want to read some of the trendy books that many of my friends were reading—books that could be read in one sitting and had no lasting impact nor deep themes-- and my mother would always point me to a classic book instead.  Though I did not understand the terminology of "truth, goodness, and beauty" at the time, it was to that metric that her guidance was pointing me.  As my palate became attuned to the truth, goodness, and beauty found in classic literature, I developed a love for great books and a distaste for fleeting, shallow stories.”

It would make sense that on Christmas Eve, books given would provide a deep impact. . . because Jesus was born, impacting us eternally. A shallow story doesn’t seem a true fit for a Christmas gift.

Fikes quotes Leland Ryken, author of The Christian Imagination, ‘The stories we embrace define us.”  Fikes agrees, explaining, “The stories which I read growing up have become as much my tutors as my schoolteachers were.  I read of the selfish heart of Edmund in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and was cautioned and convicted about my own selfishness apart from the redeeming work of Christ.  I read of Anne (with an "e!") and I saw her stubbornness cause both conflict with others and embody her with the courage to make her own independent way as a young woman.  One of the most significant books I read at fifteen, the story of Jane Eyre-- a young orphan whose fierce spirit was gradually molded and shaped by the Lord through difficult circumstances as well as the encouragement of beloved teachers and friends to the point that she is willing to deny her own desires in order to hold to the moral law of the Lord, despite the intensity of her feelings.”

Fikes recommend classical literature. Why classical?  Fikes explains, “Though fictional, Jane Eyre and so many other characters have become my cherished friends.  Reading a book at a crucial time in one's life changes you, and classic literature is the best place to find these memorable and beloved characters. The circumstances which give these characters the opportunity to choose virtue or vice are similar to circumstances we may one day face, and in reading of their struggles, we find our own training and transformation.”

When you’re given a classical book, regardless of whether you’re a child or an adult, according to Fikes, you’re given the following:

great story is based on the structure of the greatest story-- that of God and His Son Jesus.  Our stories mimic the pattern of His story-- Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration.  

the course of history.  They address the perennial questions that all humans are asking-- How did we get here?  Why is there so much suffering?  What is the meaning of life?  Where do we find hope?  

Elizabeth Fikes Stocking Stuffer Recommendations
Younger/Read-Aloud:

Elementary:

 Middle Grades:

Older Grades and Adult:

What makes these books Christmas Stocking worthy? Fikes talks about the classical lessons woven into stories: “themes of courage, truth, good versus evil, humanity, and the roles of reason and science, beloved characters, captivating story lines, love, courage, adventure, revenge, sacrifice, redemption, home and hospitality—books that prove helpful to our own journeys through life, protagonists who grow through struggles and fights to make righteous choices when their desires and morals conflict.”

A good book is a priceless gift. They are read and re-read through a lifetime. They are like the voice of an old friend who calls us to come visit—and we tromp together through the story we shared, the challenges and the over-coming parts of the story.

As Christmas day winds down—or if you find yourself with a quiet Christmas Even, wrap a warm blanket around yourself, settle down into a cozy chair with a cup of hot chocolate. Settle down into a good story, either one someone gave you, or one you tucked down into your own stocking. 

Yes, even the grown-ups need a good book!  Fikes said, “We are constantly being formed, and we will continue to be so until we die.” That sounds like permission, to me, to sit down with a good book for a quiet evening as you and yours enjoy the remains of your home’s very own book flood as a result of well-stocked Christmas stockings!

*not appropriate for younger audiences, but good for a parent-led read for discussions over sexuality, death, and truth.

**Fikes recommends as a read-aloud to allow a parent to talk through what it looks like to navigate young womanhood in a God-honoring way.

(Thanks to Plenty Book Store for allowing us to take photos of their books)