Santa Finds Some Unexpected Helpers in Oh, What a Christmas!

In Jerry Pallotta’s Who Will Guide My Sleigh Tonight? Santa runs through all sorts of trials with different animals before settling on the perfect creatures to pull his sleigh. In the more recent picture book Oh, What a Christmas!, Michael Garland posits a scenario in which Santa already knows which animals work best but must resort to using different species due to an accident.

Garland is a longtime illustrator, and it is his lavish artwork that drives this silly but sweet tale. The story is told with simple narration in a couple of paragraphs per page. Particularly noteworthy phrases like “BIG, FAT, JOLLY RED SKYROCKET” and onomatopoeia like “THUD! STOMP! THWACK!” jump out at the reader in extra-large print and capital letters. Santa speaks from time to time, usually peppering his dialogue with “ho”s, but the reindeer are silent, as are the animals that come into the story soon afterward.

The book consists mostly of full-page illustrations and two-page spreads filled with vibrant colors and intricate shading. The tale begins with Santa and his reindeer embarking on their Christmas Eve ride, only to have a straightforward night thwarted when the harness breaks, causing the deer to be separated from Santa and the sleigh to crash. Santa lands near a barn, and it is there that he finds his replacements: two sheep, two cows, a horse, a pig, a goat and a hound dog. The main fun of the story is seeing these ordinary animals in the extraordinary situation of guiding Santa’s sleigh.

The animals have a fairly realistic look to them while still being slightly cartoonish, particularly in their eyes, which are large and white with small black pupils, each with a pinprick of light in it. Santa, too, has such eyes, along with rosy cheeks and a bulbous nose. His beard and mustache are silky white, and his suit looks quite cozy. Santa is very jolly-looking, while the animals spend much of their time looking gently confused. Some of the facial expressions are quite comical.

As stories go, this one isn’t too complicated, but it is sweet, since it allows a ragtag team of farm animals to do something amazing and to help Santa out of a jam. There’s a general sense of goodwill about the tale and a warm glow in several of the illustrations that would feel at home in a Thomas Kinkade painting. For young children who enjoy animals, this book offers a fun twist on a Christmas tradition.

A Bad Kitty Christmas Is a Good Christmas Book

I imagine that most cat owners have entertained the thought that they have a bad kitty. After all, cats have an independent attitude and a knack for getting into mischief, and the holidays often bring out the worst in them since there are so many opportunities to cause trouble. That is certainly the case in Nick Bruel’s A Bad Kitty Christmas, one of several books featuring a scraggly black car with a tuft of white fur on her chest and a sometimes-surly disposition.

This charming story is told through rhyme. It begins and ends as a parody of A Visit From St. Nicholas, but it’s a much longer narrative than that classic poem, and Santa Claus isn’t involved at all. Instead, this is the story of a mischievous kitty who makes a colossal mess, gets soundly scolded and decides to run away en route to the big family dinner. Along the way, she comes to realize how nice it is to have a home, even if people can be frustrating sometimes.

One very neat thing about this book is that it is an alphabet book, but instead of going through the alphabet once, as most books of that type do, it does so several times, and it is integrated organically into the story. The first time around, we get an alphabetical list of all the damage Kitty has done to the house, with one noun and one passive past tense verb in each short sentence. Each time the sentence’s star letter is used at the beginning of a word, it is in red and extra-large.

The second time, the featured letter is blue, and instead of a sentence per letter, it’s only a word or phrase, so this alphabet only takes up two pages. It lists all of the animals the ravenous Kitty wants to eat, and some of them are quite unusual, so there is an educational element to this one beyond the alphabet as children can learn about such creatures as cormorants, ibises, narwhals and quetzals. The two-page spread also features six amusing illustrations grouping the animals, so kids can have an instant idea of what they look like.

Finally, the third alphabet is a listing of various people appearing in photographs hanging on the Christmas tree of an elderly woman who finds Kitty after she runs away. While the first alphabet is funny and the second is educational, this third is poignant as it shows all of the people important in the woman’s life and helps Kitty to understand how much these bonds matter. There are also interesting little tidbits in there, such as the fact that “vriend” is the Afrikaans word for “friend.”

Another fun element of this book is the fact that shortly after Kitty runs away, the pup who lives with her also hops out of the car in order to conduct a search. After that point, many of the pages have a black-and-white inset showing how he is progressing on his journey as he sniffs her trail out and makes inquiries of any creature he sees. The main illustrations, by contrast, are vibrantly colored and sometimes presented in several panels per page. This is a very busy book, filled with a bustle of activity and sometimes several things happening at once. It’s also ultimately a very sweet book with a heartwarming conclusion that is likely to elicit as many smiles among parents as children.

A Mother and Son Rediscover Each Other in An Irish Christmas

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me how much I love Ireland. My Swedish grandma sometimes teases me about this, but when she happened upon Melody Carlson’s An Irish Christmas, she snatched it up for me, as she figured it was definitely my kind of book. I read it over Christmas vacation, and I would generally have to agree.

This novel, written by prolific Christian author Melody Carlson, focuses on Colleen, a middle-aged widow, and her son Jamie. A rift has grown between her and her free-spirited son, who, feeling stifled by the expectation that he would take over the family shoe business, has been pursuing music in secret. Colleen has a secret of her own, and she wants to share it with Jamie on a Christmas trip to Ireland. Each has been hurt by the other’s lack of consideration in the past but is afraid of hurting the other with the information that has been held back for so long.

The majority of the book takes place in various tiny towns in Ireland, so the setting appealed to me very much. My appreciation for it was increased by the fact that it is the early 1960s, which has always been a time period of particular interest for me. One of the defining events of the book is the Kennedy assassination, and the looming Vietnam War makes Colleen very fearful of Jamie’s professed intention to join the armed forces. The 60s, along with the 70s, are my favorite period in popular music, and there is some mention of a couple favorite groups, but for the most part, the focus is on a style rather than particular individuals.

Carlson uses alternating chapters to tell her story, with Jamie narrating half and Colleen the other half. Colleen’s chapters feel more natural, perhaps because her perspective is closer to the author’s. Carlson does have a tendency to overuse certain words, such as “groovy,” and phrases, like “it seems to be the case,” and this can give her writing a bit of a clunky feel at times. The prose is generally more utilitarian than artful, but there are times when she seems to get caught up in the beauty of the Irish surroundings and the words on the page reflect that loveliness very well.

This is an uplifting story that relies a little heavily on coincidence, with some people very conveniently being in the right place at the right time, but then she seems to be going for a slightly magical feel here and I think it works. Jamie’s tumultuous feelings about the path he would like his life to take and Colleen’s guilt and regret about decisions in her past ring true and set the stage for reconciliation and self-discovery. If you wish you could spend a couple weeks on an Irish getaway, An Irish Christmas makes for a nice holiday in your head.

Betsy-Tacy Connects Five Girls As They Yearn to Be Home for the Holidays

There’s no place like home for the holidays, which is why I’m in Erie, Pennsylvania on December 25th, celebrating Christmas with my parents and brother in the same house as always. In Heather Vogel Frederick’s Home for the Holidays, however, none of the five youngest members of the Mother-Daughter Book Club is spending Christmas at home. Instead, each one finds herself missing home while away on exotic vacations.

I discovered the Mother-Daughter Book Club series for intermediate readers last fall, and I devoured the first four books, the last of which gave every impression of being a series finale. I was surprised, then, to hear that 2011 would bring a new novel featuring these girls tied together by their immersion in classic literature. Home for the Holidays is different from the first four installments in several key ways, but it still is very much in the same vein as the others.

The first major difference that fans will note is the fact that Becca Chadwick, the prissy queen bee who is a primary antagonist to most of the girls in the first two books, gets to speak for herself this time around. Aside from her best friend Megan, she still doesn’t feel a particularly strong connection to the other book club girls, and this year, she has a troubling family secret hanging over her head and deepening her sense of distance.

Usually, the books are divided into four sections with four chapters each, but now that Becca is on board, there are five chapters in each section. However, there are only three sections, and the story takes place over the course of about five weeks instead of the typical almost-year. Hence, there are 15 chapters instead of 16, making this book of pretty typical length for the series, though the chapters in the last section are considerably shorter than those in the first two since everything in that section happens on the same day.

This time, the books under consideration are those in Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series. I was excited to see this because my friend Beth, who has also been enjoying the Mother-Daughter Book Club books, has loved Lovelace since she was little. At her recommendation, I read the first couple books a few years back but stopped when my library’s supply ran out. Reading this made me want to pick up those books again.

I do find that there’s an extra layer of fun to be found in these books when one is intimately familiar with the allusions being made, which is probably one of the reasons that my favorite books so far have been the ones focusing on Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice. Still, I’m familiar enough with Betsy-Tacy that I didn’t feel too out of the loop with the references.

With so many major events occurring and long-running storylines wrapping up in the fourth book, Home for the Holidays feels a bit like a P.S. on the series, though it could also be seen as a sort of transition book. These girls are only sophomores in high school, after all, so there is plenty of potential life in the series still, especially if they deal with smaller chunks of time like this one does.

Here, there are really only two characters facing major changes. Becca’s father is out of work, and tomboy Cassidy could wind up moving back to California if her stepfather accepts a job there. Theirs are the most compelling stories this time around, particularly when it comes to long-term consequences. Megan has a crisis in that her long-distance boyfriend has abruptly ditched her, but as he only entered the series a book ago and didn’t seem likely to be a permanent part of it, the break-up doesn’t have as big of an impact as Emma’s major relationship catastrophe in the fourth book. Speaking of Emma, while this bookworm is my favorite character, she doesn’t have a lot to do in this book. Mostly she just reacts to Jess, whose sledding injury prevents her from going to Switzerland for Christmas and who Emma suspects of getting involved with another boy even though she is dating Emma’s older brother Darcy.

The book introduces a few new characters, but the one who adds the most is Becca’s grandmother. I love the way that Vogel has turned the book club into a three-generation thing, and it seems especially sweet that Becca’s grandmother is the one who selects the Betsy-Tacy books for the girls’ next project. I also love the tea shop opened by Megan’s grandmother, especially all the literary quotes on the walls. It seems like a perfect hangout for the girls, a place as cheerful and welcoming as Pushing Daisies’ Pie Hole.

The book begins with Thanksgiving and ends with New Year’s Eve, but the heart of the story is Christmas, which finds each of the girls someplace rather exotic. Jess and Emma are at a New England lodge run by Jess’s relatives, Megan and Becca are on a cruise off the coast of Florida with their families and Cassidy is with her Mom, stepdad and sisters in California, trying to decide whether she would be okay with them moving back to the state she called home for a dozen years. More than before, it struck me how isolated Cassidy is. Despite having a group of friends, she really doesn’t have a “best friend,” and although she has always been part of a hockey team, in some ways, she is more of a loner than anyone else in the group.

It’s fun to be able to visit with her and the others this time around for such a festive outing. I love Christmas stories, and that’s mostly what this is. As before, I usually found it pretty easy to keep the girls’ voices straight, though I sometimes caught myself mixing up Megan and Becca and, to a lesser extent, Jess and Emma; usually I can tell Emma is speaking because, like me, she’s constantly making references to books (though with me, it’s also TV and movies). Still, I think the characters are definitely distinct from each other, and it will be interesting to see how Becca develops if the series continues, since this is the first time we’ve been able to get her side of the story. As always, it took me a few pages to get used to the present-tense narration, but once I did, I was fully immersed in the story and could barely put it down.

Because this is the fifth book in the series, you really would do best to start from the beginning before opening this one. However, I think it would work as a stand-alone holiday story; you would just be missing some of the significance of certain scenes and spoiling earlier plot developments if you read it before any of the others. While the target audience is girls in middle school and high school, I think anyone who understands the power of books to forge friendships and help us make sense of our lives could easily enjoy Home for the Holidays.

Disney Princesses Celebrate the Season in Winter Wishes

Earlier this fall, I read a couple of books that place various Disney princesses in autumnal settings. Now, with Christmas almost upon us, I perused the level two Step Into Reading book Winter Wishes, which features six of the ten princesses in the midst of wintry activities.

In this book, Apple Jordan writes in rhyme, which gives the story a nice lilt, though the rhythm is not as strong as it could be. The rhyme pattern is consistently ABCB, but some of the lines are short and some are long. While most pairs are pretty close in length, not all are; one that seems particularly clunky is “Cinderella wishes to go on a snowy coach ride. So Prince Charming takes his lovely bride.”

Cinderella is the last princess to appear in the book, as she was in those other Disney Princess books. She seems to have a slightly elevated status among the Disney princesses. She also appears on the title page, as well as the cover, though Belle is more predominant there. Snow White, Ariel, Jasmine and Briar Rose all have a few pages to themselves in this book too.

Ariel’s is a little strange since she’s under the sea, where I don’t think there are seasons as such, but there also aren’t mermaids, so it’s sort of a moot point. At least it isn’t snowing underwater. Jasmine does have snow in Agrabah, but that’s because Genie can do practically anything, including manipulating the weather.

Unsurprisingly, none of the princesses interact with each other. This is not a cohesive story but a series of vignettes. Snow White starts things off with eight pages, and Cinderella finishes them up with five. The rest have four each. Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Cinderella seem to alternate in these books between their pre-prince lives and their Happily Ever Afters, and it’s not always immediately obvious which we’re getting.

Here, though, Briar Rose is still living in the woods with the three kindly fairies, while Cinderella has clearly taken up residence in the castle. Snow White’s section does not mention the prince at all, but given the short time she was with the dwarfs, it seems likely that this Christmas celebration is taking place during a later visit rather than her initial stay.

While Aladdin does not play a part in this book, his presence is implied by Genie, so Jasmine’s portion takes place at least after the first movie, while the Beast is still in his cursed form, so Belle’s takes place before the end of Beauty and the Beast. Ariel, as pretty much always seems to be the case, remains a mermaid, so her segment appears to be a prequel.

All of the sections are pretty similar, with feasting, snow and Christmas trees common to most of the stories. Not everyone has specific winter wear, but those that do look quite elegant, especially Cinderella, the top of whose dress looks like something Mrs. Claus would wear. It’s very fun and festive. While there could have been a bit more variety in the traditions presented, Winter Wishes is a vibrant seasonal choice for young readers who love the Disney princesses.

Santa Conducts an Experiment in Generosity in The Small Town Children's Christmas

One of my favorite Christmas specials is The Year Without a Santa Claus, the Rankin-Bass classic that introduced the Snow and Heat Misers, whose dueling song would become a Christmas station staple. In that movie, Santa decides to call off Christmas because he is feeling unappreciated. In The Small Town Children’s Christmas, written by Patrick K. Hallinan, his reasons for deciding against his annual flight are a bit less self-involved. His chief concern is that children have become too greedy and fail to understand the joy of giving.

Hallinan spins his story in verse, mostly four or eight lines at a time. The format is inconsistent, with some parts following an ABCB format and others embracing AABB; while I find that a bit distracting, the rhyme is generally done well, and the rhythm is usually spot-on. He does not capitalize the first letter in a line unless that letter would be capitalized in the normal course of a sentence. This gives the book a slightly less clean look than many of this type, but it also helps to increase the focus on the individual sentences instead of the verses. That’s probably a good thing, though occasionally, portions of the story seem to have been written mainly for the sake of rhyme. I imagine the book would have been a bit less long-winded if the writing style had been prose.

Questions of style set aside, it’s a pretty good story. Santa is not simply giving up on the children of Earth. He’s hoping that his failure to show up will stir them into some sort of positive action, and that does come about through the efforts of one youngster, a lad named Paul who lives in poverty and has only one prized possession. He seems more in touch with the joy of the season than anyone, and while all of the children are on their best behavior, with him, it isn’t simply because he wants something out of it. His response to the lack of presents galvanizes the others; this mild-mannered kid seems like a natural-born leader. The conclusion reminds me of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, one of my all-time favorite Christmas tales.

The illustrations are cartoonish, and all of the characters have faces with a pinkish tone to them. Most of the kids have a rather general look to them, but Paul is more distinct with his scraggly brown hair and the red ball cap he always wears. Santa is the only adult human in the book, so we don’t know what sort of effect all this is having on the grown-ups in Small Town or elsewhere. All we see is the reaction of the children, but the verse suggests that their generous spirits have an impact upon people of all ages.

I can’t put my finger on just why, but something about this book feels rather generic to me. Nonetheless, The Small Town Children’s Christmas is a story that applauds selfless giving, and that is a virtue worth celebrating. If you fear your kids may be in danger of excessive greed as Christmas approaches, perhaps this book might serve as a gentle reminder that it is better to give than to receive.

Mike Huckabee Encourages Patience in Can't Wait Till Christmas

During his Presidential 2008 campaign, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee made a generally positive impression on me, so it piqued my curiosity when two Christmas books bearing his name hit the shelves of the bookstore where I worked. While I have yet to read his collection of stories for adults, I recently took his picture book, Can’t Wait Till Christmas, out of the library.

Huckabee writes with a folksy, down-home charm as he relates an incident from his own childhood. I got a chuckle out of the dedication, in which he relates two instances of his sister Pat engaging in activities that were dangerous to his health and well-being. Ah, the joy of older sisters! Clearly, however, there is great affection and humor between the two of them, and this is the pair of siblings at the heart of the story.

The tale Huckabee tells is not a new one. Countless stories have mentioned how hard it is for children to wait for Christmas, and many have featured children who decide to peek at their presents, only to regret it later. Still, this is an engaging story that seems more so because it is true. While the story is written in the third person, we’re getting a first-hand account from a guy who recalls what it was like to be fiendishly excited for Christmas, to want a football as badly as Ralphie wanted a BB gun in A Christmas Story, to be so fixated that avoiding the temptation of an early peek seemed impossible. Reading of his later remorse carries more of an impact.

Huckabee paints a picture of a happy family: Mom, Dad, a brother and sister, a cat and a dog. The parents seem pretty easy-going, good-naturedly putting up with all of Mike’s strong hints about what he wants for Christmas. Pat is a bit less patient, but she’s not quite a Lucy Van Pelt-style crabapple, and as much as she wants to play by the rules, she can’t help getting caught up in Mike’s excitement. It’s fun to see these siblings interact with each other and reminds me a bit of the dynamic between me and the brother closest to my age. I’m sure a lot of siblings can relate to this relationship.

Jed Henry’s illustrations are fairly realistic but with a cartoonish edge. The humans look slightly more realistic than the pets, which appear on nearly every page, but the pictures are consistently artistically appealing. I especially like the spectacle of the tree with all the presents, each wrapped with a different style of paper, underneath. Their tree is much more sedate than any we’ve ever erected in my house, but the plain gold and silver balls alongside the colored lights have a very elegant effect. I can’t help think the parents were almost asking for this to happen by putting those presents out two whole weeks early; perhaps they saw it as a teaching moment. In any case, the lesson comes across well.

Early in the book, Mike’s mom insists that being patient makes the experience of opening a gift sweeter. By the end of the book, Mike understands what she means, and perhaps other kids who Can’t Wait Till Christmas will get it as well and be less inclined to peep at those presents ahead of time.

The Poky Little Puppy's First Christmas Brings Friendship and Generosity

When I was little, one of my favorite books was the Little Golden Book The Poky Little Puppy. As I’ve always been on the poky side myself, I related to this pup that has such a hard time keeping up with his siblings, in part because he takes more time to stop and notice everything around him. I’m not sure how it took me this long to discover it, but this year I found out that another book featuring this peripatetic pooch was published, this one with a Christmas theme. With so much to see and do at this time of year, it’s little wonder that the Poky Little Puppy would be distracted. Which of the sights of the season would occupy his attention?

The Poky Little Puppy’s First Christmas has a different tone to it than the original book, which emphasizes Poky’s curiosity and unintentional disobedience. Late in the book, he’s chastised for being naughty, but ultimately the book concludes with him home safe and happy. Here, it seems that Poky’s mother is more understanding of his meandering ways, and while she implores him to be home on time, her response to his inevitable tardiness is not as harsh as in the first book. In any case, Poky’s vagabond ways merely set the stage for the most significant part of the story, which comes later.

In this book, a skunk named Herman helps Poky get out of a jam. Later, when Herman is in trouble himself, Poky finds a way to help him. The message is one of friendship and of being willing to give to others even if it’s at your own expense sometimes. Since Poky’s slow and inquisitive ways are what lead him to make the friendship and to hit upon the solution to his friend’s problem, this book celebrates Poky’s natural disposition instead of scolding it. That unquenchable curiosity about the world gets him into trouble, but it also gets him – and others – out of it.

As this was written about 50 years after the original, we don’t have the same author and illustrator on board this time around. The writer in this case is Justine Korman, while the illustrator is Jean Chandler. Looking at the book, even if I didn’t know how much later this was published, I would have guessed that the illustrator was different, but the look is similar enough that this is clearly the same character. The writing is solid, but the style is clearly not quite that of the original author. Also, the prominence of the family with whom the dogs live distinguishes it from the first book.

While The Poky Little Puppy is one of America’s most enduringly popular picture books, having sold about 15 million copies, I don’t see The Poky Little Puppy’s First Christmas becoming that iconic. It’s merely an afterthought of a sequel. Nonetheless, the poky little puppy continues to appeal to inquisitive children, and the emphasis on the joy of giving to a friend in need makes this an enjoyable Christmas tale.

Winged Children Celebrate the Season in Little Angels' Book of Christmas

Artist Joan Walsh Anglund has books dating back several decades, and many of the illustrations in her early books feature drab color schemes or no color at all. Little Angels’ Book of Christmas, published in 1997, is strikingly different because the colors are so vibrant. Every picture is in full color, and while red and green are the most prominent colors, she uses a whole range of hues, incorporating yellow to especially good effect.

This book is slightly taller and almost twice as wide as the typical skinny Anglund book, so it has a very different look to it. Curiously, with more room to work with, her illustrations become less detailed. They’re still lovely to look at, but the landscapes in particular feel a bit more generic than in her earlier books. I find the color technique interesting, with the children generally having very thick color around the outsides of their clothing and very little on the middle portions. It’s a type of shading that is very pronounced.

The writing style is rather curious here because she alternates between prose and rhymed verse. Because she doesn’t stick to one or the other, it creates a feeling of incongruity lasting throughout the book. That’s probably my major complaint here. The book feels unnecessarily uneven. What’s more, some of the rhythm feels a bit clunky.

I’m also not entirely sure what purpose is served by giving all the children wings. In most of the illustrations, they just look like ordinary kids who happen to be able to take to the skies at a moment’s notice. In only one picture do we see an angel interacting with a normal child, and that scarcely-clothed angel looks like Cupid, while the rest are fully dressed and, aside from the tiny angels resting inside of stockings, the size of normal children.

While this book has a specific Christian focus and is more concerned with the nativity, it mentions Santa Claus, though only in the text. As a proud Swede, I get a kick out of the Santa Lucia wreath adorning the head of one golden-haired girl, though I wish that she was dressed in white instead of pink. However, aside from the nearly naked angel, all of them wear robes of green, gold or pink. While only one angel wears a wreath with candles on it, several have garlands on their heads, and they look especially nice on the children in green.

This is one of several Little Angels books, and while it is not my favorite of her Christmas reflections, the angels do seem well suited for this occasion. For a slightly celestial take on the Christmas season, have a look at Little Angels’ Book of Christmas.

The Cowboy's Christmas Isn't Western But Is Well-Mannered

I have always gravitated toward the cowboy lifestyle, so I was intrigued when I happened upon the picture book The Cowboy’s Christmas by Joan Walsh Anglund, who tends to stick more with poetry in most of her books. While the title character certainly looks like a little cowboy, I was rather disappointed to find that nothing he does in the book is particularly cowboyish. Nonetheless, this is a cute Christmas book encouraging children to be on their best behavior as Christmas approaches.

This is a very simple book about a cowboy who is “Especially Busy” getting ready for Christmas. Those words are two of several that are capitalized for emphasis. Like many of Anglund’s books, this one has only about one sentence on each page. It’s about half the size of a typical picture book but nearly twice the size as Anglund’s tiny gift books, so it feels fairly spacious despite its small size.

As I was reading this for the first time, it became apparent to me that it was part of a series. I have not read any of Anglund’s other cowboy books, and I think it would be helpful to read at least the first one, as that apparently establishes this character as a bit of a troublemaker. The cowboy’s actions are meant to seem extraordinary because readers already know him as a scallywag. However, nothing he does in this book suggests that, and if it weren’t for the way the text was worded, I would have no reason to suspect that he is anything other than perfectly well-mannered.

This book does not provide any information about the bear, either. Where did he come from? How did they meet? Is he visible to everyone or just the cowboy? It’s really not clear. I do find the color scheme of this book interesting, though. While the cowboy and most of the background objects are black, the bear, the mice and a few other page elements are red. It’s only the two colors, so it’s pretty drab, but the stark contrast is interesting.

Because the cowboy’s darker past is only hinted at here, there’s not much dramatic tension to be found. Instead, it’s just a straightforward account of someone getting ready for Christmas. Given his diminutive height and the typical baby face that Anglund gives him, he definitely seems to be a child, but he also lives all alone, at least without human supervision. He does share his house with a jumbo-sized bear and a family of mice. Still, he comes across as an interesting sort of kid-adult hybrid.

The Cowboy’s Christmas was published in 1972, and it looks older than that. The red and black color scheme more than anything else is what makes it seem like a product of an earlier part of the century; the capitalized words seem quaint too. It’s a good sort of nostalgia, which is something you could say about most of Anglund’s books. While it would have been nice if this book had more of a western flavor to it, the cowboy’s determination to extend goodwill to others makes for a most agreeable tale.

Joan Walsh Anglund Explores Christmas Traditions in A Christmas Sampler

People celebrate Christmas in many different ways. In her gift book A Christmas Sampler, artist and poet Joan Walsh Anglund recognizes the diversity of traditions surrounding this beloved holiday and provides a nice little primer on them. Unlike Christmas Is a Time of Giving, which she originally published several decades earlier, this book is in full color, and it’s much wordier, including a number of poems and songs containing several verses as opposed to the earlier book, which has only a sentence per page.

Anglund has a distinctive style, particularly when it comes to drawing children. The kids in her books have tiny black dots for eyes and bright rosy cheeks. Beyond that, they usually have no other facial features. They dress in old-fashioned attire, which adds to the general coziness of her books. Whether or not these types of images have any direct correlation to your own youth, they are a part of countless Christmas songs and specials, so these nostalgic visions are perfectly suited to this homey time of year.

In some of Anglund’s books, the adults look significantly more realistic than the children, but that isn’t the case here. Only the wise men toward the beginning and the portrait of Mary holding Jesus at the end of the book include a different facial design than the children. Then again, there aren’t very many adults in this book at all. What we mostly have are lots of children gearing up for Christmas in different ways: trimming the tree, making cookies, going for a sled ride, caroling… These are all very common images, but that just gives them a comfortably familiar feel.

She divides the book up into sections, each entitled “The _____ of Christmas.” The longest section is the last, “The Meaning of Christmas,” which is a poem that spans eight pages. “The Poems of Christmas” are written in rhyme as well, and “The Songs of Christmas” are simply two popular carols. The book also includes a couple of introductory poems. The rest is prose, including several short descriptions of Christmas customs, legends and traditions and a recipe for gingerbread cookies.

This book is much more explicit that the earlier one when it comes to both Jesus and Santa. Each appears in both in illustrations and text. Anglund also discusses St. Nicholas, citing him as the inspiration for Santa Claus. Her sampling of various traditions from around the world is educational, and even though I am a Lutheran who absolutely loves live Christmas trees, I had never before heard that Martin Luther was said to have started that custom by erecting a fir in his home. Some research on the subject leads me to believe that there is some debate about that, but just the possibility is fascinating. I was familiar with the idea that St. Francis of Assisi had developed the crèche, an interesting tidbit for those who haven’t encountered that detail before.

Anglund’s poetry is fairly uncomplicated and generally follows an ABCB rhyme pattern. I don’t know that it would be strong enough to stand on its own, but alongside her charming pictures, it works. She writes of preparing the heart and the home for the arrival of Christmas and of extending kindness to others during this season of giving. As Mary Poppins’ Feed the Birds is one of my favorite songs, I especially like Anglund’s poem encouraging children to distribute birdseed to hungry birds in the winter.

A Christmas Sampler reminds me of a miniature version of Ideals. It includes a similar mix of poetry, recipes and Christmas legends and traditions. All that’s missing is some fiction, but Anglund has other books to satisfy that desire. Because the pages are so small, the print is miniscule and may be difficult for some to read. Stick this in somebody’s stocking, and you may want to include a pocket magnifier. Still, this is an adorable collection, and while I still slightly prefer Christmas Is a Time of Giving, this more recent book aptly demonstrates many of the joys of the season.

Christmas Is a Time of Giving... and Lots of Other Things

Joan Walsh Anglund is an artist and poet best known for her tiny gift books, which celebrate the simple joys of life. Christmas Is a Time of Giving is one of those, and it also happens to be one of my favorites of her books. Like most books of hers that I’ve read, it doesn’t have a plot, but it is instead a list of qualities that are associated with Christmas.

The book, originally published in 1961, includes a mix of black-and-white and full-color illustrations, though the color drawings limit the colors to shades of red and green, further emphasizing the Christmassy theme. With a couple of exceptions, pictures are on the right page of the book, while text is on the left. The most notable exception is the pair of facing black-and-white pages, one of which shows a group of children wrapping presents in front of an old-fashioned pot-bellied stove, the other of which shows a young girl making cookies.

While the illustrations are pretty small, they are filled with intricate detail. Anglund’s iconic rosy-cheeked children are adorable as ever, while the adults looks distinctly different, having a more realistic appearance instead of the almost blank-canvas faces of the children. I love the landscapes, which look like something out of a Currier and Ives painting. I especially like the colorless drawing of the boy with the sled under the barren branches of a windswept tree surveying the snowy expanse of a valley town.

The writing is minimalist, with no single page featuring more than a sentence. There’s a bit of a poetic quality to it, but the extensive repetition is the most notable quality of the prose this time around. Every sentence includes at least one “a time of” statement, for a total of 16, though one could say that there are quite a few more than that, since there are several “and”s scattered throughout the story. For instance, “It is a time of stars and midnight… and soft prayers whispered in the dark.”

The primary focus of the book is on all that makes Christmas cozy. While Jesus is not mentioned directly, one picture shows several children gazing upon an outdoor nativity. In general, the tone seems vaguely religious, and nothing in either the words or pictures specifically suggests Santa Claus or his reindeer. We see the children waiting, but we also watch them prepare gifts, so they could well just be waiting to give them to each other. Even the stocking hangings over the fireplace don’t necessarily reflect anticipation of Santa.

Instead, the book celebrates togetherness. Peace, love, understanding… These are the sorts of things that Anglund associates with Christmas here. All but two of the illustrations feature at least two characters (three illustrations if you don’t count the dog as a distinct character). The sense of warmth and community seeps through the pages, counteracting the slight shiver that comes with the sight of all that snow. I’m not sure if she had any particular location in mind when she put this book together, but it reminds me of New England. In any case, it looks like a place I would love to visit.

Of the four Anglund Christmas books that I have read, this simple volume is my favorite. It only takes a few minutes to read, but the warm glow cast by Christmas Is a Time of Giving might just last the whole day.

Tom Wilson's A Ziggy Christmas: A Fairly Bland But Heartwarming Book

Tom Wilson’s Ziggy cartoons, usually single-panel and focusing on the lovable blob of a title character and his many animal friends, have been spreading gentle cheer for several decades. While I find the cartoon rather similar to Family Circus in that it is much more likely to make me smile than laugh, Ziggy does occasionally come up with a zinger as he comments on the excesses of modern society. His cheerful disposition in the face of disappointments makes him an appealing character and a fun throwback to the 1970s; he debuted in 1969 and seems to fit very nicely into the decade that followed.

A Ziggy Christmas is a cute little gift book of about 40 pages. It bears a strong resemblance to A Charlie Brown Christmas as Ziggy is disgusted with all of the materialism he sees surrounding the holiday and one of his rebellious gestures is buying a tiny tree that’s a dead ringer for the one Charlie Brown selects. The book is not exactly a series of unrelated strips, but it doesn’t have much of a plot either. It’s more of a general theme of yearning for a simpler celebration.

The book, published in 1980, is fairly colorful but not as much as it could be. The front cover, featuring Ziggy and his furry and feathery friends decorating a glowing tree out in the forest, is the most detailed part of the book. It’s only on the covers that Ziggy is flesh-toned; throughout the book, he’s the same color as the white backdrop. Just a black outline occasionally wearing a red and green scarf, he is at least a bit more colorful than the rest of the people populating the book. With the exception of a couple of guys in Santa suits, everyone we see is black and white, and the only color on them is the wrapping paper on the presents they carry.

Still, the book contains a fair bit of color, mostly in Christmas-related items. The trees at the lot are varying shades of green, the Santa suits are bright red, the tangled mess of lights in his living room is red, green, blue and yellow… Every page includes some type of element making it look more festive. At times Ziggy comes across as frustrated, but he always bounces back from being let down. What’s more, when he sees someone else in distress, he always sets aside his own problems to help.

As is typical with Ziggy, most of the book is more feel-good than genuinely funny, but it has its moments. For instance, there’s the rather amusing observation that “sending Christmas cards is an old tradition… that comes from the ancient custom of not sending presents!” I also love the strip – one of only two in a book full of panels – in which Ziggy painstakingly wraps a box containing a toaster, only to discover that his dog was in the box when he wrapped it.

Ziggy is an upbeat fella who just won’t let life depress him for long. While A Ziggy Christmas isn’t particularly strong in the story department, it has a lot of heart, and it would make a wonderful gift for a friend who is feeling just a little downcast at Christmastime.

The Night Before Christmas Caps Mary Travers' Legendary Recording Career

Few poems have captured so many imaginations as Clement C. Moore’s A Visit From St. Nicholas. Nearly two centuries after its first publication, it remains ever-popular, particularly in the realm of picture books. Last year saw the release of The Night Before Christmas, a lavish Imagine Publishing book with paintings by Eric Puybaret and a three-track CD by Peter, Paul and Mary. Indeed, this bonus album – particularly the second track – appears to have been the main reason for this edition.

I received the book for Christmas last year, but I heard about it earlier in December when Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey were making the morning show circuit talking about the book, which they dedicated to Mary Travers, who died in 2009 of complications from leukemia. While the first and third tracks on the CD are, as best as I can determine, gleaned from the trio’s live Holiday Celebration concert in the 1980s, the second track features Mary reading the story, with background music added later by Peter and Paul. It was her final recording, making this a very special keepsake for Peter, Paul and Mary fans.

I’m certainly one of those, having been introduced to the group by an aunt determined to make an enthusiast out of me. At least, that was the first I recall being specifically aware of them as a trio, though I know I first heard Puff the Magic Dragon as a toddler, and while I might have been mostly familiar with kiddie versions, I find it hard to believe I made it to the age of eight without hearing their original rendition. In any case, could the gal who loved the soothing harmonies and intricate lyrics of Simon and Garfunkel fail to fall for the grassroots power and vocal majesty of Peter, Paul and Mary? It was only a matter of time.

In Mary’s recording, her voice teeters on faint; it’s plain that she is not as robust as she once was. Nonetheless, her reading sparkles with warmth and enthusiasm, and the playful background vocalizations of her old friends are an affectionate tribute to their bond. In the first track, Paul sings the song to guitar accompaniment, filling the melody he co-composed with expressive nuances. He sings with such laughter in his voice that smiling along is practically inevitable. The third track is A-Soalin’, a complex acoustic song about carolers singing for their supper. It doesn’t have a very direct connection to the book, but it is a harmonious song of Christmas cheer, and it also happens to mention the names Peter and Paul.

Obviously, this edition is of particular interest to fans of this iconic folk trio, but it’s an excellent find for anyone looking for a handsome copy of the poem for the family library. The paintings are vibrant, with rich yellows, deep reds and a hushed bluish-white blanket of snow surrounding the house in which St. Nicholas makes his grand appearance. Unusual elements include the verdant robes the reindeer wear, the creative and seemingly homemade toys found throughout the house and the tiny, luminescent fairies who flit through the living room as St. Nick leaves his gifts. The poem is entirely intact, and this is about as straightforward a version as you are likely to find. I was a bit surprised that the narrator drops out of the illustrations after throwing up the sash in his room, but this leaves more room to zero in on the character kids are most interested in.

If you don’t have a picture book version of Moore’s poem in your home, consider getting this one. If, like me, you’ve encountered multiple versions and have a tough time deciding on a favorite, you’ll definitely want to add this one into the consideration. Imagine Publishing’s The Night Before Christmas is a timeless edition of a classic tale and a last labor of love for a trio whose output spanned half a century and whose influence will go on much longer.

The Three Gifts of Christmas Encourages Gratitude and Generoity

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” This Bible verse – Acts 20:35 - is often repeated in some form around Christmastime, and it serves as the basis for The Three Gifts of Christmas, a picture book in the Princess and the Kiss series written by Jennie Bishop and illustrated by Preston McDaniels. The books are didactic in nature, intended to encourage children to embrace pure-heartedness; while other books in the series symbolically focus on issues of temptation, particularly in the realm of abstinence, this one is all about gratitude and generosity.

The main character is an unnamed princess whose devoted parents are dismayed to see that after years of having gifts lavished upon her by them and others in the kingdom, she has become ungrateful. She feels entitled rather than appreciative. As a result, they decide that drastic measures must be taken in order to help her adjust her attitude. They gently inform her that while the usual festivities will go on as before, this year, no one in the royal family will receive gifts from the kingdom’s subjects, and the princess will be given only three gifts by the king and queen, a reminder of the Magi who brought gifts to Jesus. At first, the princess is distressed, but she comes to realize the care with which each gift was chosen, and this in turn makes her more open to sharing those gifts with others even though she received far fewer than in years past.

The book is written with an austere air, giving it the feel of a fairy tale from long ago. The description of the gifts is especially rich and loaded with symbolism. Bishop does veer toward the over-the-top at times, and the princess’s transformation from a petulant whiner to a grateful giver occurs so instantaneously that her acts of kindness seem a bit anti-climactic. It might have been more effective to see her struggle a bit more. In this regard, we see the princess as an ideal, and her actions toward the end are something to aspire to, while her behavior at the beginning is to be avoided. Most children will fall naturally between the two extremes.

McDaniels, who has previously worked with the prolific Cynthia Rylant, a Newbery-winning author of several beloved series, brings a winsome charm to the illustrations, which fit the text perfectly. His depictions of the princess herself are especially winning and more effectively convey the complexity of her emotions than the text. I especially like the illustration of her as she receives her three gifts and her face registers her anticipation as well as her hesitation in getting started since it will be over so quickly this year.

In addition to encouraging gratitude and generosity, the book incorporates the Christmas story as presented in the Gospel of Luke, and it is written from an overtly Christian perspective with didactic intent. While I think Bishop could have been a bit less heavy-handed, I still found the story enjoyable, particularly in tandem with the illustrations. Bishop reads expressively on the included audio CD, and the music that plays behind her reading, which incorporates several Christmas carols, complements the story nicely.

While I prefer more organic stories of Christian generosity like Kate DiCamillo’s Great Joy, The Three Gifts of Christmas gets the message across well and is a good reminder of the joy to be found in true thankfulness and in the willingness to give to others.

Schnitzel Ponders His Favorite Things in Schnitzel's First Christmas

In The Sound of Music, Maria lists schnitzel as one of her favorite things. The song containing that sentiment has become a Christmas standard, so even though she was referring to a popular Austrian dish, it seems fitting for a character named Schnitzel to inhabit a Christmas book. In Hans Wilhelm’s Schnitzel’s First Christmas, the titular character is a puppy, and like everyone else in the story, he is thinking about his favorite things. That’s because according to Gruff, the grumpy gray cat, everyone who wishes for a particular present before Christmas Eve will have that wish granted by Santa. But Schnitzel has so much already; what could he possibly wish for?

This is a cute story for the early elementary school set. The writing is not very complicated, and most pages have a few short paragraphs of text. Schnitzel interacts with five different characters in the book; we never actually see the people who live in his house, though indications of their presence are prevalent. When Schnitzel complains that no one has any time for him, it would seem that he means the humans; the animals living in and around the home seem more than willing to take the time to talk to him. The cat, the fish and the birds all have specific requests in mind, ones that could easily apply to a puppy with a bit of tweaking. Toys, shelter and food all come up as basic desires.

Schnitzel is a lovable pup, and there’s something sweet about the fact that he is so happy with what he has that he can’t think of anything to ask for. On the other hand, his inability to come up with something makes him miserable. So he does really want something; he just can’t for the life of him figure out what. Mostly, he doesn’t want to feel left out, which is a feeling many children can relate to. The Christmas picture book market is flooded with “first Christmas” stories, usually involving animals because in most cases, the first Christmas of a human child would be when he or she is a baby too young to really appreciate what is going on. Books of this type involving dogs seem to be especially popular, and this one fits in well with the rest.

The story is sweet, but the real charm of the book lies in the illustrations. Schnitzel is a cute beige puppy with a little mop of fur atop his head and slightly darker brown ears. The book doesn’t indicate the medium for the illustrations; my guess would be watercolors, perhaps with some colored pencil mixed in for the detail work, particularly on Schnitzel’s scraggly fur. The pictures have a very soft tone to them, both in terms of muted colors and a lack of sharp edges. They have a comforting feel to them that matches the overall theme of the story, which has to do with the value of companionship.

While I do think that Schnitzel, so content in other areas of his life, could be a little more grateful for the presence of other animals with whom he can converse, in general he is very lovable. In looking over a list of Wilhelm’s published works, I see he has a series starring another puppy named Noodles. Considering how well the exuberant young Maria thinks those two go together, that looks to me like a crossover just waiting to happen, especially since Wilhelm, having written a book about the real Von Trapp family, is so obviously aware of The Sound of Music. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this Schnitzel is one of my favorite things, but he’s certainly a pleasant puppy to spend a few minutes with.

Aliana Brodmann Celebrates Cross-Cultural Compassion in The Gift

In most books I’ve read that involve Hanukkah, the holiday itself is a central part of the story, but in The Gift, a semi-autobiographical picture book written by Aliana Brodmann and illustrated by Anthony Carnabuci, both Hanukkah and Christmas linger in the background of a beautiful tale about generosity and compassion.

The story takes place in Germany in the 1950s, where the narrator recalls her excitement at having received a five-mark piece as a Hanukkah gift from her father. She carries the coin with her all through school, clutching it in her fist, then spends the afternoon perusing every shop in town trying to decide what the best use of this splendid present might be.

One neat thing about this book is all of the details of the types of objects found in shops of the time. It’s fascinating to read her descriptions of the fancy fountain pens, the tiny mirrors, the elegant hats, the pull-string duck with the line of ducklings behind it. Almost every item she examines is within her price range; one can certainly understand how she becomes overwhelmed with all of the choices before her!

The oil paintings are soft and intricate. Each shop the girl visits has a distinct assortment of goods, and several of the shopkeepers stand out, treating the little girl in the bright red coat and hat and deep blue scarf with kindness as she tries to make her decision. The fact that it is Christmas means that the shops are full to bursting with tempting merchandise. It also means that it’s winter, and by the end of her excursion, gentle snowflakes will render her warm clothing absolutely essential.

This book offers an intriguing slice of life from 1950s Germany, and the youthful but artful narration draws readers in. What really leaves a lasting impression on me, though, is what the child ultimately decides to do with her money. It’s a conclusion that recalls the exquisite Kate DiCamillo book Great Joy as the narrator’s kind heart compels her to make a surprising choice that nonetheless causes her to bubble over with happiness.

The peaceful rapport between the narrator and the many Christians she meets adds to the serene feel of the book; Brodmann’s parents survived the Holocaust, so there’s something especially poignant about seeing this childhood memory that conveys such a sense of mutual respect. A lovely book alight with the glow of compassion, The Gift is aptly titled.

Santa Does Not Find Imitation Very Flattering in One Thousand Christmas Beards

A couple years ago, I discovered the Beach Boys song Santa’s Beard, in which a boy recounts a rather traumatic experience taking his little brother to meet Santa. The curious tyke tugs on the jolly old elf’s beard, and it comes right off in his hands. Needless to say, the result is something akin to the classic Norman Rockwell painting in which a shocked lad holds up a Santa suit he discovered in a drawer. The suit and the beard make the counterfeit Santa. The illusion isn’t too tricky to pull off, but neither is the unmasking.

In Roger Duvoisin’s 1955 picture book One Thousand Christmas Beards, Santa has had enough of all the impersonations. They really get his dander up, and one year he decides that ranting to Mrs. Claus isn’t enough. He’s going to take matters into his own hands and rid the world of all these extra Santas. He wants to be able to say, to take a page out of Tigger’s book, “The most wonderful thing about Santas is I’m the only one!” His strategy? Travel extensively and yank the beards off of every Santa he sees.

This book is five and a half decades old, and it looks it. The illustration style is a mix of sketchy black and white drawings and drab color pictures that mostly incorporate red and green. Aside from the first two pages, which are fairly text-heavy, most pages only have a sentence or two, and it’s presented in a sort of free verse form. Most of the lines are fairly short, and some are pretty poetic, particularly as Devoisin describes the situations of the various Santas, most of whom are engaged in public services while dressed in their disguises. I think my favorite is the sandwich man Santa, “who was so thin / his red suit hung on him / like a flag on a pole on a windless day.”

Santa Claus is a character known for his kindness and generous spirit, and this shines through in virtually every book and Christmas special that features him. Every once in a while, though, Santa is portrayed as a real grouch. Rankin and Bass have portrayed him this way a couple of times. In The Year Without a Santa Claus, he is ornery and self-indulgent, and in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer he’s just plain rude. Both times, he comes around, but it’s a little jarring to see him behave that way, and that’s the case here as well. He comes across as an egotistical crank, and only a stern talking-to from the Mrs. is sufficient to show him the error of his ways

This is a nostalgic book that offers a peek at Christmas of the 1950s. Some parts of it are indeed outdated, like the shoeshine man on the corner or the idea of buying a doll for a quarter. But I hope the most outdated idea of all is the thought that Santa would fly into a rage over some ordinary Schmoes just looking to spread a little Christmas cheer. The situation is milked for humor, and in an entertaining touch, the man so aggravated by imitation happens to have a pet parrot. This is a cute and quirky tale, but really, Santa ought to know better.

Everybody Has a Story in Trixie Belden and the Mystery in Arizona

I’ve been devouring the Trixie Belden series this month, and I’ve now come to the conclusion of the original six written by Julie Campbell. Prior to this volume, she leaves 13-year-old Trixie, her best friends Honey Wheeler and Di Lynch, her brothers Mart and Brian and Honey’s adopted brother Jim in what, for me, is pretty familiar territory: New York. The terrain and climate is comparable to Pennsylvania’s, but in the sixth book, I took a trip along with them to sunny Arizona for a sojourn on the other end of the country.

In Trixie Belden and the Mystery in Arizona, Di’s Uncle Monty, the character at the heart of the mystery in the fourth book, has invited the Bob-Whites – the club that includes the Beldens, Honey, Di and Jim – to spend Christmas with him at his ranch. Trixie’s afraid that she can’t go because she’s in danger of failing math, but she is given permission – on the condition that she spend a good part of her vacation studying. Little does she realize that she’s about to add to that workload considerably until, for the second book in a row, she volunteers the Bob-Whites to take over a job from someone who has suddenly quit. Why did the Orlando family, who were such dedicated and seemingly happy workers at Uncle Monty’s ranch, decide to clear out in such a hurry? When the Bob-Whites take their leave, will Uncle Monty be left without a staff?

This book is interesting in that the supporting characters from previous books play virtually no role. Instead, it’s all newly introduced characters interacting with the Bob-Whites. There’s also the fact that they are in such a novel situation. The southwest setting makes it fun, especially for someone like me who’s never been to Arizona, though it’s also a bit of a drawback, as Campbell sometimes gets a little carried away with delving into the history and geography of the region. There are lengthy conversations or monologues that mostly feel like information dumps. We get one on the plane in a chat with a very knowledgeable stewardess, and it seems to happen a lot at the ranch, especially whenever Tenny the cowboy is around. I picked up a lot of interesting tidbits from this, but at times it feels excessive; this is a novel, not a travelogue. But I bet there are plenty of folks who came away from the book thinking that Arizona would be a nice place to visit.

Because Di’s uncle owns the ranch, she feels like a fairly organic part of this story, and she is the first to make a breakthrough with one of the three “difficult guests” whose rooms the girls have to clean as part of their housekeeping duties. Each of these guests, along with several employees, is a mystery Trixie intends to crack, which doesn’t leave her much time for studying. Why do middle-aged “Mr. X.” and young “Calamity Jane” seem so despondent? Why is “Lady Astorbilt” so ornery? Why would Tenny adopt a phony accent? Why can’t pretty young Rosita return to school? And most importantly, where did the Orlandos go, why did they leave, and why didn’t Maria, the ranch’s cook and the daughter-in-law of the Orlando parents, go with them?

That’s a lot of puzzles to work out, and Trixie does do some deducing in this book, though mostly, she “solves” these mysteries by talking to people. As in the fifth book, there are no nefarious characters lurking in these pages, just odd events with circumstances that require some explanation. It’s fun getting to meet so many characters at once, and they’re all pretty distinct. Some of them have things in common with folks back home, too; particularly, easy-going Tenny’s rapport with the kids is similar to that of cheerful groom Regan, and Maria’s son Petey is a lot like Trixie’s little brother Bobby. While Trixie is on target in thinking that there is something strange going on at the ranch, I appreciated that Honey’s instincts toward thinking the best of people are also justified as the story unfolds.

The boys feel a little less involved in this book, though we get to see them preparing and serving meals, and Brian and Jim take turns tormenting Trixie with math problems. Not being very math-minded myself, I felt sorry for her having to spend so much of her trip poring over problems. Of course, she spends most of the rest of her time poring over problems, too – other people’s problems. Though she often suspects that folks are up to no good, once she gets the full story, she wants to help. That, after all, is the Bob-Whites’ mission. And can I just say that every one of these kids is not only hard-working but extremely generous? It didn’t surprise me in the least to see them stepping up to take over ranch duties; that seemed an obvious solution to the first problem that presented itself upon their arrival. But for none of them to show the slightest material interest in the $400 payment offered for their services – especially considering that, thanks to the last book, we know that $50 is enough to buy you a car – shows a generosity of spirit almost too expansive to be believed.

Everybody has a story. That’s the message we get from this book, where half a dozen backstories of characters we might never see again are explored. Some of them aren’t too surprising; I figured out Tenny’s right off the bat. Others are more cryptic; the Orlandos’ disappearance seems even more intriguing in light of the strange tales Petey tells about a previous excursion with his grandparents. If there’s a lesson to be learned here, aside from all the textbookish ones about Arizona and its people, it’s that getting to know people is a worthwhile exercise. Just because someone seems snappish or standoffish doesn’t mean she’s not worthy of friendship, and just because someone has a secret doesn’t mean he’s a criminal. Of course, I’m sure it won’t be long before some baddies show up again. But it’s Christmas, after all, and if this is what a holiday in the Southwest looks like, it sounds like a pretty good time to me!

Reindeer Puzzle Over Santa's Absence in What Could Be Keeping Santa?

In most Christmas picture books, it’s the children around the world who wait impatiently for Santa’s arrival, but in Marilyn Janovitz’s adorable What Could Be Keeping Santa?, his reindeer are the ones aquiver with anxious anticipation. They know that they have a job to do, but Santa Claus seems to have forgotten. None of them can imagine what could possibly keep the jolly old elf from setting off on his yearly journey on time.

Janovitz tells her story in four-line stanzas, with the first three lines rhyming and the fourth some variation on “What could be keeping Santa?” The print is large, and most of the pages only feature one or two lines. The rhyme and rhythm works very well, particularly toward the beginning of the book, in which she describes all of the indications that the time has come for Santa to set out. Oddly, she shifts tenses toward the end of the book, suddenly writing in past tense, and I find this a bit jarring, but otherwise, the book is written well, and the ultimate answer to their question is amusing.

While the narration is charming, the illustrations are what really capture the imagination. Janovitz introduces us to eight identical reindeer, all of whom walk upright. Indeed, they seem to have more in common with humans than most reindeer in Santa stories; they don’t even live in a stable. Instead, a two-page spread depicts them all dozing off under a blanket in a bed designed for eight.

Janovitz’s vision of the North Pole is quite humble. Instead of a magnificent palace, Santa lives in a little shack, and his workshop isn’t much bigger. Since we never see Mrs. Claus or any elves, it isn’t clear whether they are part of Janovitz’s vision or if we’re meant to think that Santa makes all of the toys himself, perhaps with some help from his very anthropomorphic reindeer.

Her pictures, which are spread across two pages, are done in watercolor and colored pencil, giving them a very soft, almost pastel appearance. The reindeer have rosy cheeks and simple facial structure that makes them reminiscent of teddy bears, differentiated from them primarily by their hooves and the antlers on their heads. Their concerned expressions throughout the book are quite endearing.

What Could Be Keeping Santa? is clearly written with very young readers in mind, so this book probably wouldn’t be a great choice for kids much beyond first grade, but for tiny tots, this reindeer tale is a winner.