No Chimneys? Presents Through the Window by Taro Gomi

He's not your grampa's Father Christmas, for sure. Sporting hot pink sweats and dangly white mustachios and arriving by helicopter, Santa Claus is nevertheless as rushed as the traditional guy delivering gifts on Christmas.

In a town with no chimneys, this Santa has to resort to peering in windows to decide what presents to drop off.

The plan works well on his first stop. Through the window he spies an snoring mouse and tosses in a petite pair of pink boots for the little rodent. So far, so good! At the next house, he can see a pink kitty and he promptly puts a polka-dotted bow over the window sill, failing to see that the kitty is a bedtime toy for a snoozing pig.

"KITTENS LOVE PRETTY BOWS!"

It's all downhill for Santa's deliveries from that point on. He mistakes the long white necks of three storks for the stripes on a zebra and tosses a long black-and-white stole. The next window is dark, so Santa Claus skips that house and moves on the next window, where he sees what he perceives to be two perky fox ears and drops off a pointy cap.

At the next window, St. Nick sees what he assumes to be two dark-haired boys sharing a bed, meriting tossing two presents inside, but failing to notice that one face is painted on a helium balloon tied to one boy's bed! When Santa perceives eight bunny ears as the pointy teeth of some large predator, he pulls out a prodigiously-proportioned sweater and hurls it through the window.

NOW IT'S CHRISTMAS MORNING!

When everyone wakes, they find that Santa's pack has yielded a mixed bag. The boy with the balloon gets two gifts, one of which he shares with the overlooked black bear from the dark room. The three storks experiment with strutting stylishly with the stole entwined around all three necks. The crocodile pops the foxy cap right over two large spines on his back, and the white bunnies find sleeping space under the extra large-sized sweater. Almost all of the mistakes get sorted out, leaving the added fun for kids of figuring out who remains ungifted.

All's well that ends with a merry Christmas to all, in Taro Gomi's,Presents Through the Window: A Taro Gomi Christmas Book (Chronicle Books). It's a different take on an unusual visit from St. Nick in this noted author-illustrator's Christmas Eve tale which will give young listeners a giggle and young beginning readers a novel Christmas story to entertain the littlest ones. Taro Gomi's block print illustrations are engaging and full of festive fun, as well. "This combination holiday story and "eye spy" game is perfect for sharing and will bring a smile to young readers as they guess what's really going on through the cutout windows," says Publishers Weekly.