Grumpy Grinch! Santa Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins

Bruce was a bear who didn't like the holidays.

He used to stay in bed all winter and skip right through the whole business.

But that was back in the good old days before Bruce involuntarily became Mother Bruce Goose, foster parent to three goslings with other ideas about ways to while away the winter.

The goslings and their critter friends demand a cozy holiday family togetherness that is just what Bruce doesn't want for the winter. His goslings had already gotten busy decking the halls, while the mice stirred up some tasty eggnog. What fun! What cheer! What a beautiful Christmas tree!

Bruce didn't like fun. Bruce didn't like cheer.

And he didn't like cold weather. Bruce pulled out his long red flannel underwear and sleeping cap.

Big mistake!

"Are you SANTA CLAUS?" asked a big-eyed little 'coon kid.

And before he knows it, the goslings had lined up the moppets and Bruce was taking little bunnies and raccoons on his knees, listening to their silly Christmas wish lists. To get rid of them, he promised them whatever toys they asked for.

But at last the talkative tots left and Bruce was just headed for his cozy bed when ...

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! All the parents wanted to thank Bruce for his Christmas spirit. They left, shouting with glee.

Bruce didn't like glee.

But what about the poor little disappointed children?

The goslings and the mice insisted that Bruce cannot disappoint all the children. Will Santa Claus Bruce make his midnight ride?

BAH! HUMBUG! was the word, as the goslings got in harness, flapping wildly, and the wagon on skids lifted off with Santa Bruce reluctantly aboard, in Ryan T. Higgins' latest in his Mother Bruce series, Santa Bruce (Mother Bruce Series) (Disney Hyperion Books, 2018). There's a plentitude of slapstick sight gags, as Santa Bruce get stuck in chimneys and chars the seat of his red underwear pants on the way down, and plenty of dry humor as the goslings ensure that nobody has a niggardly Noel despite their curmudgeonly Father Christmas, Santa Bruce.

Other books in this not-to-be-missed, top-selling series are Mother Bruce, Hotel Bruce (Mother Bruce), and Bruce's Big Move (Mother Bruce) (see reviews here).

You Can Call Me Sandy! Santa Claws, The Christmas Crab by Priscilla Cummings

NO, THIS CHRISTMAS EVE IN THE CHESAPEAKE BAY

WAS NOT GOING TO PASS IN THE USUAL WAY.

Spud the insomniac crab finds it boring to sleep all winter in the mud at the bottom of the Bay. He rouses the snoozing crabs and eels for some midwinter fun.

Up on shore, the children are snug in their beds, trying to snooze so that they won't lose the chance for Santa's drop-in visit. The carols are sung, the stockings are hung, and now it's time for .... that visit from St. Nick.

But under the bay, there's a bit of a St. Nick imposter!

A CRAB DRESSED AS SANTA--A SANTA WITH CLAWS!
IT YOU MET THIS SANTA, WOULD YOU KNOW WHO IT WAS?

HE WINKED AND HE CHUCKLED. HIS PINCERS WENT CLICK!

WHY, NO ONE WOULD GUESS THIS CRAB WASN'T ST. NICK!

Spud improvises a Santa suit of a sort, a soggy red sock lost by some fisherman folds into a cap, some lost waterman's gloves bulk up his legs, along with waterlogged waders lost by some oystering watermen, and with a cherry for a nose (don't ask!), he rounds up the Bay Bottom Band and soon the denizens of the sea are decking the deep and following Santa Claws in merry measure for a cool Yule party.

But up on the shore the expected visit from Saint Nicholas is not going by the book!

REAL SANTA CALLED "HELP!" AS HIS SLEIGH CIRCLED TWICE.
BEFORE TRYING TO LAND ONCE AGAIN ON THE ICE.

Real Santa's GPS must be out of whack and he's grounded and off course. Oh, what to do?

Santa Claws rises to the occasion (and the surface of the Bay) with an offer Santa can't refuse!

"I CAN SHOW YOU THE WAY!
I KNOW EVERY INCH OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY."

REAL SANTA SAID, "FINE! MISTER CRAB, HAVE A SEAT!
PLEASE SHOW US THE WAY. I'VE A DEADLINE TO MEET!"

Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer has nothing on this sandy Santa Claws, as the Christmas Crab directs the sleigh to its midnight destinations, and St. Nick arrives right on time to make the season merry and bright for the Chesapeakean children. It's a pun with a mission, in Priscilla Cummings' Santa Claws: The Christmas Crab (Schiffer Publishing). Cummings' clever couplets with rollicking rhymes dress up the familiar storyline of Santa's impromptu helper, and Marcy Dunn Ramsey's blackline drawings of her Santa Claws is pure punny fun.

And to All a Good Ninja: Samurai Santa: A Very Ninja Christmas by Rubin Pingk

CHRISTMAS EVE WAS THE MOST PERFECT SNOW DAY OF THE YEAR.

YUKIO HAD NEVER SEEN SUCH BIG SNOWFLAKES. THEY SEEMED MAGIC.

Little Yukio has but one thought! Get the others outside and have an EPIC snowball fight! But the other little martial arts students are timid.

"NO! SANTA CLAUS WANTS US TO BE GOOD LITTLE NINJAS!

WE DON'T WANT TO BE ON SANTA'S NAUGHTY LIST!"

What a regrettable group of greasy grinds! Yukio thinks. His classmates keep right on practicing their skills, while the best snow of the year goes to waste!

But Yukio also blames Santa Claus. So, that night when Santa squeezes and slithers down the chimney, Yukio's on an all-nighter ninja Santa stakeout.

YUKIO CREPT TO THE LOUDEST GONG AROUND...

CRASH!

"INTRUDER!!!" YUKIO YELLED.

Dutifully, all the good little ninjas jump awake and throw themselves into the fray, using the first weapons available--snowballs!

"BANZAI!"

It's the most EPIC snowball fight ever, as Santa finds a stealthy way to train his troops and gives Yukio his best Christmas present ever, in Rubin Pingk's ninja night before Christmas story, Samurai Santa: A Very Ninja Christmas (Simon and Schuster, 2015). Author-illustrator Pingk's inventive digital illustrations provide the pages with plenty of movement and style and all the good little ninjas at his dojo get plenty of presents. Yokio gets a special letter from Santa:

Dear Yukio,
I hope you enjoyed the EPIC snowball fight. I made it just for you!
Sincerely,
Samurai Santa

Says Publishers Weekly in their starred review, "... a frenzied, fun, and nontraditional Christmas tale. It’s an impressively disciplined debut for Pingk and, just as important, a blast to read."

Break A Leg? The Nutcracker's Night Before Christmas by Keith Brockett

A children's production of The Nutcracker is set to take to the boards on Christmas Eve. The theater's stately marquee is all a-light and a-glitter, like the stars above.

BUT BACKSTAGE THE MOOD WAS UNCERTAIN AND STRESSED.

DISASTER HAD STRUCK AS THE DAY PROGRESSED.

First,  the programs come back from the printer with the title of the show misspelled as THE NUTSNACKER!

But things only get worse as time for the curtain to rise draws near. The wardrobe mistress finds the costumes a mess. It seems the company's cat has shredded the tights and torn all the tutus. The stagehands have all called in sick, leaving no one to pull the curtains or shift the sets.

THE SPOTLIGHTS HAD FALLEN--THE STAGE WAS LEFT DIM.
AND CLARA SPELLED GRAPE JUICE ALL OVER THE SCRIM..

Someone breaks the most important prop--the Nutcracker itself--and then the Christmas tree in the center of the opening party scene crashes to the stage. Nobody thinks it's safe to deliver the traditional Thespian blessing "Break a leg!" to the cast. It might happen!

It looks like the curtain is not going to rise for the beloved Christmas play.

Unless...

THE SET BEGAN SHAKING AND THEN THE STAGE, TOO!
UNTIL OLD ST. NICK BURST FROM THE CHIMNEY FLUE.

The show must go on, and it's Santa and his retinue who arrive just in the, er, nick of time to save the performance. The elves, experts at expediting, get busy fixing everything, and the play takes the boards after all, with the Sugar Plum Fairy arriving, not in her sparkly carriage, but in Santa's sleigh!

For kids who are familiar with the meter and rhyme scheme of Clement Clarke Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas, or The Night Before Christmas hardcover: The Classic Edition, The New York Times bestseller, and the story line of that seasonal performance, The Nutcracker, Keith Brockett's new The Nutcracker's Night Before Christmas (Sleeping Bear Press, 2015) is a jolly storytime amalgam of the two Christmastime classics. Brockett wields the familiar verse form ably to tell the tale of the performance that almost didn't happen, and Joseph Cowman's retro-styled child actors and Santa and his cohorts are just as jolly as can be as they save the play and the day.  The author appends a brief history of the Nutcracker Ballet and a glossary of stage terms such as scrim and cue. As Publisher's Weekly says, "The familiar rhyme and rhythm of "The Night Before Christmas" serve as the structure for this clever melding of two beloved holiday stories."

Second-Hand Nick: Pete The Cat Saves Christmas by Eric Litwin

'Twas the day before Christmas and Santa was ill.
In the cold winter wind he had caught a bad chill.

Will Christmas be cancelled? Will it come to that?
"NEVER!" cried Santa. "Let's call Pete the Cat!"

St. Nick on the blink! Who ya gonna call? For a surrogate Nick in the nick of time, who wouldn't think of Pete the Cat!

"Road trip!" cried Pete. "First stop the North Pole!"

Always up for anything, Pete packs his skateboard atop of his cheery red VW surfin' minibus and leaves the beach sunshine behind for the snowy clime of the North Pole. Evidently fearing that Pete's trusty Beetle bus lacks the horsepower to haul the whole world's toys, Santa thoughtfully supplies an antlered turbo-charger in the form of his team of reindeer. Pete hitches up, loads up, and sets off to circumnavigate the globe, with presents for all the sleeping children, as he sings:

"I'll do it," said Pete. "And although I am small,
At Christmas we give,
So I will give it my all."

And in the spirit of Christmas, as Pete always says, it's all good, in Eric Litwin's jolly new holiday tale, Pete the Cat Saves Christmas (HarperCollins, 2012). Litwin's "groovy" verses liven up the oft-told tale of a last-minute Santa's substitute who saves the day by filling in on sleigh duty. Charles Dean's deadpan cat is hard to resist, even if the plotline of this Pete the Cat tale is a bit less creative than his earlier outings. But as Pete sees it,

The minibus flew, just like in a movie.
Pete the Cat cried, "This is totally groovy."

Grinchtown: The Happy Elf by Harry Connick, Jr.

Eubie checked the lists...and checked them TWICE.

In the whole town of Bluesville there was not one child on the Nice List.

NOBODY would get presents.

If only Bluesville could get on the Nice List before Christmas!

Eubie the Elf longs to move up to Santa's A Team--the crack crew who are chosen to ride along with Santa on his once-a-year mission to deliver toys to the world's children.

Eubie does due diligence all year, but his holiday assignment this year is the bean-counting job of checking the Naughty and Nice Lists. A slow slog for an ambitious workshop elf, but somebody's got to do it. Eubie is giving it his best shot when he discovers a whole town of naughties. (Bluesville must be the place where the Beatles got the idea for the Blue Meanies.) Something must be done!

Desperate situations call for desperate means.

"I will use my magic hat to go to Bluesille and spread Christmas cheer.

"But Eugie," Elf Gilda worried, "you'll break Santa's most important rule, never to use the magic hat outside the North Pole!"

But with hat on head and with a wondrous WHOOOOSH, Eubie touches down in that terrible town and quickly assesses the situation.

"No wonder everyone is on the Naughty List!" Eubie thought. "This is the saddest place in the world."

Yep! Bluesville has got the blues! Nobody can be nice when their hearts are heavy. What can Eubie do to get Bluesville out of the dumps in time for a merry Christmas morn?

Grammy winner Harry Connick, Jr., knows a thing or two about playing the blues, and in his newest, The Happy Elf (Harper, 2011) he finds a way to bring the Christmas spirit to Bluesville. Dan Andreason aids and abets the uplifting activity with his jolly cartoon illustrations as a whole town full of Grinches learn to light the night and find a way to be "happy every day." No more Naughty Lists for Bluesville ever again!

Previously aired as a seasonal television special, the animated trailer is available here. and the book comes complete with a CD featuring Connick's jolly score that will brighten this season and many more.

St. Nick Rides Again: The Night Before Christmas illustrated by Charles Santore

"T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS..."

Many, many editions of Clement Clark Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas" have come and gone over the nearly two centuries since it was first published in 1823 as a newspaper article. Some editions have come to stay, and as the picture book has flourished as an artistic medium over the past 50 years, many significant artists of this genre have found its charming setting and verse irresistible.

Now comes Charles Santore, noted illustrator of children's classic stories, to take Santa for a splendid ride on yet another night before Christmas.

Santore keeps the classic old-fashioned setting, a fine, traditional house with beautiful furnishings and lovely traditional Yuletide decorations just begging for rich artistic detail. Santore makes full use of the picture-book possibilities inherent in Moore's beloved text, the necessary mouse watching and waiting for his chance for a holiday feast, chubby children in their snug beds, a waking father startled awake to throw open the window to a stunning winter landscape shown in a four-page gatefold, the snow-covered lawn, with prowling foxes, the bare trees and white-decked evergreens, Santa's sleigh just silhouetted against the requisite full moon, while his team of tiny reindeer appear large in the foreground.

Santore continues to make fine use of amplified perspective throughout, with long views and closeups of Santa, including that fetching wink that means all's well to the watching Papa as he prepares to ascend the chimney (presciently unlit in obvious expectation of its use as ingress to those waiting, hand-knit stockings.)

Santore's illustrations are perfectly matched to the beloved verse, right down to the nice use of the sleepy cat, not a new element in such illustrations, but done nicely here, making The Night Before Christmas (Cider Mill/Applesauce Press, 2011) a welcome entry into the field of famous illustrators who have made that midnight ride with St. Nick earlier. Publishers Weekly gives this edition a thumbs-up with its coveted starred review, saying, "It’s a gorgeous interpretation of a beloved holiday classic."

How Does Santa DO It? Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas by Julia Rawlinson

IT WAS AN ICE-BRIGHT CHRISTMAS EVE AND THE SKY WAS A DAZZLING BLUE.

EVERY TREE IN THE FOREST WAS FROST-SPRINKLED, AND FROZEN PUDDLES CRACKLED UNDER FLETCHER'S PAWS. HE PADDED DOWN TO THE BURROW BANK WHERE THE RABBITS USED TO LIVE AND BOUNCED OVER THE FALLEN TREES THAT BLOCKED THE OLD FRONT DOOR...

AND HE STOPPED

AND HE LOOKED

AND HE HAD A TERRIBLE THOUGHT...

HOW WAS SANTA CLAUS GOING TO FIND THE RABBITS' NEW HOME?

Then Fletcher the fox has an idea. Quickly recruiting the help of Squirrel and the neighborhood birds and mice, Fletcher uses fallen twigs to shape a path of arrows leading from the old burrow right to the front door of the Rabbits' new home. Fletcher and friends are proud of themselves.

At the Rabbits' front door they catch the delightful scent of hot blackberry pie and the sound of a Christmas Eve party in progress. Invited in, the friends eat pie and join in a carol singalong which lasts into the night.

But unknown to the merrymakers, outside downy flakes begin to fall, and by the time Fletcher steps out to head for his own snug burrow for the night, the ground is covered in several inches of soft snow, and their carefully constructed trail of twig arrows is completely hidden. Santa will never find his way here, Fletcher thinks.

Fletcher worries all the way home and finally decides that there is only one thing a true friend would do--stay awake all night and when Santa visits his house, redirect him to the Rabbits' new home. Fletcher settles down to wait, and then... he falls asleep.

He awakes on Christmas morning, and as he looks at the gifts left for him, he realizes that he slept through Santa's arrival--and has failed to tell him how to find the Rabbits this year. Sadly Fletcher hurries through the new-fallen snow to apologize to the family, only to find them already opening the gifts that have been left under their tree. Somehow Santa found his way after all!

Julia Rawlinson's Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas (Greenwillow, 2010), beautifully illustrated in soft impressionistic watercolors by Tiphanie Beeke, sweetly tells the story of loyal friends and of that jolly saint who, in the words of Phyllis McGinley's Christmas classic The Year Without a Santa Claus (now reissued in a bright, new edition by Marshall Cavendish, 2010), never fails.

YEARLY, NEWLY, FAITHFULLY, TRULY,

SOMEHOW SANTA CLAUS ALWAYS COMES.

Holly Homecoming: Christmas Kitten, Home At at Last by Robin Pulver

The stars still shown bright when Santa arrived home from his most important journey of the year.

He tucked his travelling companion inside his coat."Stay hidden, Cookie," he said. "We've got some persuading to do."

There is nothing more appealing that a little lost kitten on Christmas Eve, and even Santa is not immune to the appeal of a homeless little ginger kitty. Now all he has to do is convince Mrs. Claus that they should keep him.

All is well as they fly through the frigid wintry air back to North Pole headquarters. But as soon as Santa goes inside to begin his sales pitch, he finds he has another problem.

ACHOOOOOOO!

Mrs. Claus fusses around him, fearing that he's taken a chill. But the real cause soon becomes evident. Santa is massively allergic to that cute kitten. "We've been through this before," she points out with exasperation, and as Santa continues to sneeze, Mrs. Claus makes her point forcefully.

"I bet we can find the perfect child and the perfect home for Cookie," she says.

But how? Santa recalls a letter from a girl named Angela begging for a kitten for Christmas, but Santa has an inviolable policy: No pet deliveries without parental permission.

But Cookie, who has been playing happily during the discussion, knocking things off shelves and batting small objects around the workshop, seems to have found an unopened letter that must have fallen out of Santa's mailbag. Oh, Christmas serendipity! It's a letter from Angela's parents, with just one Christmas request:

"Could you possibly bring Angela a kitten?"

Robin Pulver's and Layne Johnson's Christmas Kitten, Home at Last (Albert Whitman, 2010) tells the jolly story of the year Santa made two Christmas Eve journeys, the second with just one very small and furry gift in his pack. Johnson's seasonally colored illustrations are well nigh irresistible, and Pulver tells the little story with just the right amount of serio-comic flair. As School Library Journal's reviewer puts it, "This is a sweet, fun read-aloud for the cat-loving crowd."

To All a Good Night: The Night Before Christmas illustrated by Eric Puybaret

Versions of Clement C. Moore's 1823 poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," written for his own children to hear on Christmas Eve, are everywhere this time of year--from pedestrian mass-market titles to full-blown beauties illustrated by noted artists of the past decades. Image Books has one more worthy of consideration as the copy for that honored place on Christmas Eve around the family Christmas tree.

Illustrated by the noted Eric Puybaret, The Night Before Christmas (Image Books, 2010) features the artist's stylized Santa, dressed in the long carmine, ermine-trimmed robe of the legendary Bishop Nicholas, his reindeer clad in graceful green cloaks with golden trim, and even his Christmas Eve night attired in the elegant colors of the midnight blue sky and glittering silver moon.

It is an altogether engaging presentation, but the piece de resistance is the accompanying CD which features the final recorded performance of Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul, and Mary, narrating "A Visit from Saint Nicholas." "Her health was fragile, but her spirit was bright," on that day, and the fact that the performance was recorded in her home in Connecticut adds to the intimacy of her familiar warm voice. Paul Stookey contributes his own musical version of Moore's poem, and the third performance on the accompanying CD features the group's famous version of "A-Soalin'"

This book/CD set is a heirloom keeper, one to pack away with the Christmas decorations and take out lovingly each year for a return engagement.

Sad Santa: When Santa Lost His Ho! Ho! Ho! by Laura Rader

Christmas was just a few days away. The North Pole was buzzing with activity. The reindeer were practicing their take offs, and the elves were putting the finishing touches on the toys--with lots of help from Mrs. Claus.

But something wasn't quite right. Something was missing.

Santa was quiet.

"Have you lost something, sir?" asked an elf.

"You could say that," said Santa. I think that I have lost my laugh."

This is serious! Christmas without its right jolly old elf just won't be the same! The doctor prescribes funny movies and lots of jokes, but they only produce a weak "Ha ha," instead of Santa's booming "Ho! Ho! Ho!"

The word spreads like wildfire around the world, and soon an avalanche of mail is pouring into the North Pole. Confronting all the condolence letters from the children of the earth just makes Santa more tired and more cranky, so Mrs. Claus sends him off for a nap while she and the elves wade into the daunting stack of mail.

Then Mrs. Claus opens a letter from a girl named Holly, and as she reads, she begins to chuckle and then to giggle, and then to roar with uncontrollable laughter. "I have an idea," she says, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes.

And when Santa awakes, she sends him off to his workshop to look at his mail, with Holly's note right on top of the stack. Mrs. Claus and the elves hold their breath while they wait. "I don't hear anything," Mrs. Claus tsks. "It's not working!" moans the postmaster elf.

And then came a distant chuckle...and finally...a mighty, booming, very familiar, and oh, so jolly...Ho! Ho! Ho! HO! HO! HO!"

Holly's bad-day self portrait has done the trick. It seems Christmas will be merry after all, as a huge headline and Holly's letter make the front page of The Daily News:

"BAD DAY" DRAWING BY HOLLY MAKES SANTA JOLLY!

Dear Santa,

Sometimes I have a bad day. I'm crabby. I can't laugh then! I look very silly. Here's what I look like then. I drew it for you. I hope it make you laugh!

Merry Christmas,
Love, Holly

Laura Rader's new-for-the-season When Santa Lost His Ho! Ho! Ho! is a fresh and jolly reworking of the plot of Phyllis McGinley's classic rhyming tale of The Year Without a Santa Claus. Rader's last page features Holly's hilarious self-portrait, while her clever endpapers feature unopened letters to Santa in the front of the book and the same kids' letters opened at the back of the book. Charming illustrations and a nice message about bad moods and the power of shared laughter make this story a welcome holiday treat.