By Dr. Seuss
The Grinch hauls every present out of Whoville to cancel Christmas, and it comes anyway. The Seuss classic most grown-ups can already half-recite.
The Grinch can't stand Christmas — the noise, the feasting, and the singing most of all — so one year he decides to put a stop to it. He stitches himself a Santa suit, sneaks down the mountain into sleeping Whoville, and takes everything: the presents, the stockings, the tree, right down to the last can of Who-hash. Little Cindy-Lou Who wakes up and catches him at it, so he tells her a quick lie and sends her back to bed. Then Christmas morning comes, the Whos wake to nothing, and they sing anyway. That's the moment his too-small heart grows three sizes, and he carries every last bit of it back down.
The rhymes carry the whole thing. They're nearly impossible to read flat, stuffed with words Seuss invented on the spot, and a pleasure to say once you lean into them. Underneath the fun sits the one idea you actually want landing in December: the day isn't the pile under the tree. Your child gets to be a little scandalized watching the Grinch sneak off with everyone's presents, then completely satisfied when he turns around. It's short, it's funny, and enough grown-ups half-know the words that reading it aloud can feel like handing something down.