Tiny Reindeer

Tiny, a “very, very tiny” palm-size reindeer in Santa’s herd, is too small to help prepare for “the most important night of the year,” but he finds his true mission when he is relegated to the mail room on the day before Christmas Eve. There, he discovers a heartfelt letter from a child asking Santa for a tiny reindeer to pull the tiny wooden sled that her grandfather carved for her. Stowing away on Santa’s sleigh before Christmas Eve takeoff, Tiny later parachutes through the starry sky toward his destiny at the girl’s house—with a little help from Santa, who appears white. In inviting ink and watercolor spreads, Naylor-Ballesteros offers a perennial lesson in finding where one belongs; young readers will thrill as the girl, who has light brown skin and dark brown curly hair, awakens and sees her four-legged gift, and Tiny at last feels right at home. Ages 3–7. (Oct.)