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Today, Jimmy Fallon announced on Instagram that his fourth children's book, "5 More Sleeps 'Til Christmas," is out today. The book, he told Entertainment Weekly, was born out of a love of both the Christmas season and seeing kids and their parents sharing his stories together.
"When you read to a kid, it's not just the words. It's stories that you tell," he said. "You share your memories and get your kids excited about the holiday, too. This is a book like any other book, but the detail you use makes you think back to your memories. You can tell your kid, 'This is the way I had it in our house. It never snowed, except for one year.' It sparks your stories."
It's no secret that Fallon loves Christmas (his show's "12 Days of Christmas Sweaters" tradition is one of its best), so he's written a book that he hopes will inspire the same joy in its readers. The story follows a brother-sister duo enjoying all sorts of holiday excursions and activities during the week leading up to Christmas Day, with illustrations by Rich Deas.
Fallon and his publisher, Macmillan, will also be partnering with nonprofit First Book for the Give a Million campaign, which aims to gift 1 million books to children in low-income communities around the world.
Fallon has also written "This Is Baby," "Everything Is Mama," "Snowball Fight!" and "Your Baby's First Word Will Be Dada," but "5 More Sleeps" is what he calls his most ambitious effort yet.
"This is the longest book I've ever written. This is my 'War and Peace.' This is my 'Goldfinch.' This is probably 12 times the amount of words than my other books," he told EW.
But Fallon isn't the only celeb to break into the world of children's books. If you're looking to stack your kiddo's shelves with new stories, here are nine books penned by famous authors that explore diversity, leadership and kindness.