cover image Jingle Bells

Jingle Bells

Maryann Kovalski. Little Brown and Company, $12.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-316-50258-0

Grandma takes Jenny and Joanna on a plane ride to New York City where they pile into a horse and carriage and set off through a snowy Central Park. There they sing a rousing chorus of ``Jingle Bells'' (the music is included, on the same page). Faced with an empty driver's seat (the driver has been neatly dethroned by a tree), Grandma takes the reins, and despite traffic and one-way streets, gets the girls safely to bed where they wearily fall asleep. The silliness of the adventure is defined in one of the early scenes of Joanna and Jenny misbehaving on a planeintended to be comic, their actions may alarm some parents. As a presentation of a popular song, this serves the purpose, but as innovation, it lags behind the author's ebullient The Wheels on the Bus. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)