cover image Christmas with the Mousekins

Christmas with the Mousekins

Maggie Smith, Knopf, $15.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-375-83330-4

Smith introduces a crafty—as in resourceful—family of mice in this story about the bustle during the days leading up to Christmas. Kid-friendly projects (mostly paper crafts) and recipes are interspersed, so after siblings Mimi and Momo make decorations with their grandmother, readers can do the same. The story is slight, but several poems and ministories add variety, and Smith's cozy mixed-media scenes of the close-knit family celebrate a holiday filled with baking, homemade gifts, and kind deeds. Ages 5–8. (Sept.)