Best Books for Your Holidays Around the World Unit

These 10 engaging read alouds are great additions to your Holidays Around the World unit! Use these winter holiday mentor texts with your lesson plans and activities this winter holiday season! Your primary and intermediate students will love these stories and their winter holiday content!

If you are teaching a Holidays Around the World, or Christmas Around the World unit this winter, these books are perfect additions to your plans! Consider kicking off your unit with a book that covers various holidays around the world. Then, move into your focused instruction by using books for specific holidays! See my list of go-to books below!

Books That Introduce Many Different Holidays

When you are first introducing your Holidays Around the World unit, you will want to start with books that cover the concept of the holidays overall. These books can introduce the concept of similar holidays being celebrated in various ways around the world. Or, they can introduce the concept of various holidays around the world being celebrated around the same time of year.

I enjoy these three books for the start of a Holidays Around the World unit because they are beautiful, engaging, and cover a large part of the world’s holidays.

Read Alouds That Focus on Specific Holidays

Then, I like to direct my instruction to specific holidays by choosing more focused books from holidays around the world! You can use a read aloud to spark students interest, curiosity or connection to the holiday. Follow up with lessons, activities, crafts or integrated projects for the various holidays!

Kwanzaa Picks:

When teaching Kwanzaa, these two books are excellent choices for introducing or revisiting the holiday! My First Kwanzaa and Lil Rabbit’s Kwanzaa are easy to understand and keep the students excited about this special holiday!

Hanukkah Picks:

These three Hanukkah books will help your students understand the customs and traditions of this special holiday! They will love hearing about Latke, the lucky dog, about the excitement of a little girl and boy lighting the menorah, about Caleb and his family playing dreidel, eating foods, and, of course, opening gifts!

Diwali Picks:

These books are also great for your Holidays Around the World unit! In 5 Days of Diwali, students will learn about the traditional foods, gifts, practices, and events that surround the holiday! In Archie Celebrates Diwali, Archana is thrilled to have her friends over for her family’s annual Diwali party! But, the electricity goes out! The kids will love hearing how Archie and her family and friends make the most of the festival of lights!