2022-08-17
Rabbits ride along on Santa’s sleigh helping deliver gifts.
The rhyming lift-the-flap book shows a White-presenting Santa and friends flying past penguins and over polar bears, zipping over coastal towns, leaving presents as they go. Every other page invites readers to help find hidden gifts beneath camouflaged flaps—in a grandfather clock door, on a boat, and behind a shuttered window, for example. Though these gifts are spread throughout the book, the text beneath the flaps keeps a running count, ending with 10 presents beneath the tree. Though it doesn’t inhibit the flow of the book, this addition might be tough for little readers to follow and keep track of. Zamazing’s illustrations are darling. The bunny helpers are oh-so-sweet, each with an individually designed scarf and sweater. Each page is full of fun details, like a penguin pulling on the sleigh’s string of Christmas lights, the dwindling pile of gifts as the team flies on, and the squares on the quilts of the sleeping bunnies as Santa delivers presents to the little ones. Children will delight in finding and flipping the flaps, and each page invites readers to linger over and absorb the lovely artwork. The pages are extra thick, so while this title isn’t as sturdy as a board book, it should endure some rough handling.
Charming visuals and manipulatives make this Christmas tale highly appealing to little readers. (Picture book. 3-5)