Don't Get Soot on Your Snout! Olivia Helps with Christmas by Ian Falconer

Who can resist a piglet with her snout up the chimney, peering for a glimpse of Santa? In this latest for Olivia fans, Ian Falconer's Caldecott award character goes through the days just before Christmas with all the joy that a preschool piglet can muster.

But Olivia doesn't just wait patiently for Santa: in Olivia Helps with Christmas, (Olivia Series) our piglet becomes a player, pitching in with those jobs that make the countdown to Christmas so much fun. Olivia "helps" wrap presents, decorate the tree and place the presents there, bake cookies and put them out for Santa, hang all the stockings, and, of course, look for signs that Santa is coming, hence the sooty snout when she inspects the chimney.

Olivia is just the right age for this Christmas, old enough to remember a bit of Christmas past and young enough for it to be new and exciting all over again, culminating in Santa's presents under the tree on Christmas morning. The illustrations are at once striking and adorable, and tots waiting for Christmas to come will identify with this impatient piglet.