‘Tis the season to celebrate the holidays. Whether you’re totally obsessed, indifferent, or a scrooge, the holidays can be a magical time of gift giving and charity. Everybody digs a little deeper to make this time of year as good as possible for everyone. Sometimes, that goodness doesn’t spread as far as we’d like, but we all try. And one way we can help that spread is, as always, through books.
Holiday YA books are uncommon. There’s concerns about being too niche, about too small a timeframe of when they’re available. But the past few years have shown an obsession with Hallmark holiday movies and holiday romances, which leads to an uptick in festive YA reads. Unfortunately, most of the uptick is still centered around Christmas, but hopefully that will expand soon. For now, we’re bringing you all of the December holiday reads we could find.
Mistletoe by Hailey Abbott, Melissa de la Cruz, Aimee Friedman, and Nina Malkin
What Light by Jay Asher
Decked with Holly by Marni Bates
Ex-mas by Kate Brian
The Chaos of Standing Still by Jessica Brody
Together at Midnight by Jennifer Castle
Icing on the Lake by Catherine Clark
Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Top Ten Clues You’re Clueless by Liz Czukas
Winter Town by Stephen Emond
Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand
The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Catherine Haps
Snowed In by Rachel Hawthorne
My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins
My New Crush Gave to Me by Shani Petroff
Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm