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The Christmas Story for Children
by Max Lucado
Beautiful retelling of the Christmas story with gentle illustrations. Perfect for family reading during Advent.
Updated August 2026
Key features of this book.
- Gentle Christmas story
- Beautiful illustrations
- Age-appropriate telling
- Includes discussion questions
How to use this book.
For bedtime reading
- Read one story per night for a calming routine
- Use gentle, soothing tones
- Point out illustrations and ask questions
- End with a simple bedtime prayer
For family devotions
- Read together and discuss the story
- Ask: "What did you learn about God?"
- Connect the story to your child's life
- Draw or act out scenes together
If The Christmas Story for Children is already on your shelf, the next book does not have to be one more copy of something everyone owns. We print a keepsake with your child in it one at a time, after you order it.
Explore more Bible story categories.
Bring The Christmas Story for Children home.
Recommended for ages 4-8 years.
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What we checked against Scripture.
We read the passages behind the stories in this book and note where a retelling compresses, paraphrases or adds. We compare editions and read what other parents report. We have not tested this book with a classroom.
The nativity, Matthew 1 to 2 and Luke 1 to 2
The book blends the two accounts into one sequence, as nativity retellings almost always do. Scripture does not put the shepherds and the wise men in the same scene, and the wise men arrive later than the stable.
What is left out
Herod's order and the flight to Egypt are outside this telling. A child who asks what happened after the wise men left will not find the answer here.
Questions parents ask.
What age is The Christmas Story for Children for?
Zondervan lists it for ages 4 to 8. It is a 32-page paperback in a large format, about 11 by 8.5 inches, which makes it easy to read to several children at once. A three-year-old will follow the pictures happily; the text itself is pitched a little above them.
What is in the book?
The nativity retold from The Story for Children, the children's edition of Max Lucado's The Story, written with Randy Frazee and Karen Hill and illustrated by Fausto Bianchi. It covers the announcement to Mary, the journey to Bethlehem, the birth, the shepherds and the wise men. No verses are printed and there is no Advent structure.
Can you use it as an Advent reading?
Not as published. It is one continuous story rather than 24 numbered readings, so families who want a December-long plan usually buy a dedicated Advent devotional and keep this for Christmas Eve. You can split it across three or four nights if you stop at the natural scene breaks, but the book does not do that for you.
What does it leave out?
Most of the surrounding context. Matthew 1 to 2 and Luke 1 to 2 tell the nativity differently and include material a 32-page picture book will not carry: the genealogies, Herod's order and the flight to Egypt. This retelling gives you the scenes families picture at Christmas. If your child asks what happened next, the answer is not in here.
Which of the Christmas books here should I choose?
It is the read-aloud of the three. The First Christmas is a changing-picture novelty for toddlers, and the Brick Bible version tells the same events in LEGO photographs for children who will not sit for prose. This one has the most words and the most conventional artwork, which is what a four to eight-year-old usually wants.