Move Over, Rudolph! Olive the Other Reindeer by J. Otto Seibold

Back in her doghouse, Olive was wrapping presents and listening to the radio. She heard that same song again.

"All of the other reindeer..." went the song.

"Olive, the other reindeer..." Olive sang along.

"Olive, the OTHER reindeer?" said Olive. "Hmmm. I must be a reindeer."

It was the time of year when all reindeer reported to the North Pole to help Santa Claus. Olive put down her scissors and marched out the door.

Olive arrives outside Santa's workshop just as he is going through his pre-flight checklist, and St. Nick is a bit perplexed to find Olive lined up beside Dasher and Dancer.

Santa knew a lot about dogs. For instance, he knew
they couldn't fly. But as it was time to go, he decided to give Olive a chance. Comet, the biggest reindeer, used a piece of extra ribbon to make sure Olive was tied in safe and tight. Now they were ready to go.

And in the best Christmas magic tradition, Olive finds that she can fly, dangling just below the eight official coursers. Although Olive is cool with it all, the flying reindeer are so curious about Olive that they fail to gain enough altitude and crash into a tree, leaving Santa's sleigh stuck among the top branches. Of course, chewing sticks is almost a daily duty for dogs, and Olive soon has her crew freed of all entanglements. It's not an uneventful flight that night, but Olive's canine talents come to Santa's rescue repeatedly before the deliveries, made a bit late but thankfully well before dawn, are finally done.

But it is at the end of flight, when Santa is making his final landing approach back at the North Pole, that things get dicey. It's the dreaded North Pole Fog, and even Rudolph's nose couldn't have lighted Santa's way through this one. Luckily, although her nose doesn't glow, it still works in the proper canine manner, and sniffing Mrs. Claus' cookies through the gloom, Olive realizes that she's got the right sniff, er, stuff to complete this mission.

"Olive, won't you guide my sleigh this morning?" pleads Santa, and Olive's doggy sense of smell brings them down right on the runway. For her canine capabilities, Olive the other reindeer is rewarded with her own ceremonial set of antlers with which to join the reindeer games.

J. Otto Seibold's and Vivian Walsh's special edition of Olive, the Other Reindeer (Chronicle Books, 2009) is out for this Christmas season to add to that shelf of traditional "Santa's helper" books.

Available to accompany this newest reindeer recruit is the very popular Olive, the Other Reindeer Pop-Up Advent Calendar and its equally famous companion for the Christmas countdown, the Olive the Other Reindeer CD, narrated by Drew Barrymore--not to mention the plush Olive the Other Reindeer Toy for a complete Olive the other reindeer Christmas.