Christmas Books in Order

Matt Haig’s Christmas books imagine the origin and ongoing work of Father Christmas as if it were all absolutely true. Rather than cosy stories that start with a fully formed Santa, the series begins with Nikolas, a poor woodcutter’s son from Finland who has never had more than a carved turnip doll to his name.

In A Boy Called Christmas, Nikolas sets out alone for the Far North to search for his missing father and prove that a legendary elf village called Elfhelm is real. Along the way he befriends a talking mouse, survives trolls and blizzards, and discovers that hope is a kind of magic. By the end of that journey he is well on the way to becoming the figure the world will one day call Father Christmas.

The second book, The Girl Who Saved Christmas, shifts the focus to Amelia Wishart, a chimney sweep in Victorian London and the first child ever to receive a Christmas present. When she loses hope after her mother’s death and a spell in a brutal workhouse, the magic that powers Christmas starts to drain away. Father Christmas has to fix chaos in Elfhelm and travel back to the city to rescue Amelia’s belief, with help from elves, reindeer, a certain famous writer and more than a little courage.

In Father Christmas and Me, Amelia has been adopted by Father Christmas and Mary Christmas and moved permanently to Elfhelm. Being the only human child in a town of elves is not simple. She struggles at school, feels out of place and starts to wonder if she truly belongs. When the jealous Easter Bunny and an army of militant rabbits try to ruin Christmas for good, Amelia has to defend her new home even while she is still working out where she fits inside it.

A Mouse Called Miika runs alongside these stories and gives the spotlight to Miika, the loyal little mouse who travels north with Nikolas. Living among elves, trolls and pixies leaves him feeling small and out of place. His own quest – initially just to find the world’s finest cheese – turns into a lesson about friendship, bravery and learning to value yourself even when you don’t look like everyone around you.

Across the series you can expect snowstorms, flying reindeer, trolls, truth pixies and plenty of jokes, but also grounded moments of grief, loneliness and found family. The books are written to be read aloud, with short chapters and illustrations, and they work as both stand‑alone adventures and as one long story about how kindness and imagination can turn an ordinary boy into the symbol of Christmas.