This is a beautiful and comprehensive book of various Christmas traditions from around the world. It is fact-based and goes into cultural history, the meanings of symbols, and analyzes Christmas stories. I love this approach and learned a lot from this book. I think it's great for any age group, but would definitely be fascinating for older children. The artwork is also lovely.

This was a lovely book on Christmas traditions from around the world, some well known, others less so.
The illustrations were lovely, colorful and had a traditional feel. The text was easy to follow for even my younger kiddos, and the language was appropriate for the audience.

This is a really well-researched book about Christmas traditions from around the world. The illustrations definitely enhanced the story and it was told in language that would be understandable by children.

This is a beautifully illustrated book that describes many Christmas customs and celebrations. The book opens with an an explanation for how Christmas came to be celebrated on December 25th. From here, there are sections on many ways that the holiday is noted and celebrated. For example, have you ever heard of Grittibaenz? He is a bit like a gingerbread man in Switzerland. How about a German Christmas Market? Reading about that makes me want to go to one to look around. What are some of the stories behind the Christmas tree? Learn about the Swedish gnomes, called tomtar. Find out when children in different countries receive their gifts. All this and more make this book an interesting one for families to share. The world opens up as children learn the ways in which their celebrations are the same and/or different from those in other parts of the world. A great way to look forward to the holiday season.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.
Share this:

Press ThisTwitterFacebook

Customize buttons

A fun book for middle grade readers who want to learn about Christmas customs. There is a strong focus on the religious celebrations of Jesus' birth with a Catholic bent. Almost all of the customs presented are European, although there is also a good representation from the Americas. There is much less from Asia, and only one mention of either Australia or Africa (Ethiopia), so the subtitle, "Traditions from around the World" is a misnomer. There are no source notes, bibliography, or suggestions for further research, which limits the usefulness of the book in school settings. Recommended for kids who want to be holiday armchair travelers.

I love this book and it's illustrations, I hope that it is reviewed so that my library system can publish it. The different traditions and celebrations of cultures around the world during the Christmas season reflect history, religion, and a shared need to light the dark days of winter. A lovely book.

Packed full of information and visually appealing, Christmas Is Coming is a great addition to a holiday/world celebration collection. I believe a lot of the information and traditions discussed in this book will be new and fascinating to young readers. The graphics are beautiful and enticing - I can see patrons checking it out for the cover alone.

I can't believe how beautiful and comprehensive this book was! I wasn't ready for it!

The amount of information this book contains, how well it is depicted and how much I've actually learned as an adult is incredible. I can't believe I even called myself a Christmas addict before this, because I didn't know half of the things that are explained here.

Did you know where the tallest Christmas tree is? Or where St. Nick arrives on a steamboat instead of a sleigh?! As well as that in one country people put up a giant goat instead of a Christmas tree? Not a real one of course.

You will learn a lot about Christmas, the dates, traditions, the history, but most importantly, how Christmas is done around the world. Every country has a different traditions, from Germany to the Philippines, and this book beautifully illustrates every single one.

I recommend reading two stories or pages each day in December, leading up to Christmas! It's a great learning experience plus it creates the anticipation for Christmas.

Not to mention, it's gorgeous, beautifully illustrated, and it's so incredibly fun to read and look at the illustrations. It's one of those books that you pick up, make a cup of tea and just slowly read, enjoying every bit of it.

I don't usually buy all ARCs I get the pleasure of reading, but this one. This one is already on my Christmas books list and it's going to become a permanent part of my collection.

Christmas is Coming is a beautifully written book and the art work is gorgeous. I appreciated how the author described the different traditions and why we do what we do around Christmas time. I went into this book thinking is was geared towards smaller children but I feel the content is appropriate for an older child. I would definitely recommend this book for older children and adults.

3.5 rounded to 4⭐️

Thank you to North South Books and Netgalley for a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!!

What a fun book! Christmas is my favourite time of year and I LOVE reading about different traditions, so this book was perfect for me!

It truly goes around the world and covers a wide variety of Christmas traditions! I am so used to turkey for Christmas, it was a lot of fun to read of other meal traditions and why the traditions are in place!

One of my favourite parts was about ornaments. I have a plethora of ornaments and know why they mean something to me, but this book will explain how people went from using food items on their trees to glass ornaments!

A fun, quick read that is full of history and Christmas cheer. And the artwork is absolutely stunning!!!!

Such a Beautiful little book
Great for all ages and learnt some very interesting festive facts
Very excited for Christmas after reading this 🎄🎁⛄️

It is interesting to see how other countries celebrate Christmas. This book is colorful and easy to read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a gifted copy. This is my honest review.

This book is chock full of interesting facts about Christmas around the world. I learned quite a bit about the holiday that I did not know. The illustrations are gorgeous, and the book will be engaging to some readers. My issue is that the book is not well organized and doesn't read well. Younger readers could have a hard time following along or lose interest quickly. That being said, it's a great book to reference for specific facts about winter holidays worldwide, and it is visually appealing. If you LOVE Christmas, this would be a nice addition to your collection. Thank you @netgalley and @simonandschuster for the ARC
I put this book on a list for possible purchase because it has such interesting information and is visually appealing. 4 stars

A great read for holiday time - Christmas is Coming outlines the origins of our favorite celebrations and traditions of Christmas. It covers a lot of information about food, symbols, objects, stories and customs from cultures all over the world and the accompanying Illustrations are bright and detailed.

Covers traditions and celebrations from around the world (truly!) in regards to Christmas. It discusses foods, parties, songs, celebratory exclamations, and so much more. And the illustrations are beautiful.

This is a did not finish for me... When, in the first few paragraphs a book makes you feel your traditions and beliefs are wrong, it's hard to connect. I will not give this book a rating as I did not finish it, and will only be giving detailed feedback to the publisher via Netgalley.

Let's just say this book is only intended for those in the northern hemisphere, as it focuses on the importance of Christmas being in winter, not summer. And it comes across as anyone not celecrating it as a winter event is not a true lover of Christmas

Despite being a Pagan I love Christmas, I embrace a lot of the traditions from my German maternal side... but I also love the Australian traditions. Starting a book about Christmas by saying if it's not winter you can't truly celebrate it really just isolated all of the southern hemisphere. Maybe reword it to it being the authors experience? Christmas is a summer event full of BBQs, swimming, water balloon fights, and long, sultry summer evenings where it's still bright enough outside to be able to read a book at 10pm.

We celebrate Litha, then days later we celebrate Christmas. We have a homemade advent calendar, home made adventz kruntz, my kids even leave their thongs (flip flops in other countries) out for St Nicholaas to leave chocolate or charcoal in.

I love Christmas, don't tell me I can't truly celebrate it without winter. Yule we celebrate in June... THAT is our winter solstice. Yule, Litha, and Christmas are three different things. Maybe add that to your seemingly limited research on Christmas traditions?

I’ve been looking for a book just like this, showing off traditions from around the world at Christmas. Gorgeous illustrations, and easy to read. As a parent I’m trying to be conscious of making sure my child know about all different cultures, so I’m looking forward to grabbing this one for the holidays!

Christmas is coming is the book to read during Christmas. In this book, you will learn about the Christmas traditions across the world. Learn about why we put up Christmas trees, the legend of Santa Claus, the festival markets, nativity plays and decorations, and much more. The illustrations were beautiful and made reading this book entertaining.

A great book to get in the Christmas spirit, and learn so many new things about the holiday with the cutest illustrations. It was very interesting to learn where a lot of Christmas traditions originated. It seems a bit dense in some parts, especially for a Children’s book, but this would be so fun to read during the most wonderful time of the year!

I absolutely adored this book, it is just beautiful and the stories are amazing. I shall be using this constantly in the lead up to Christmas and shall be ordering several copies for classroom and library.