The Big Book of Christmas

This large-format board book gives Christmas newcomers a basic overview of common holiday elements. Saunders’s simple, cheerful cartoons gain additional visual interest from digitally collaged fabric textures and large, multicolored circles that serve as a backdrop. Each spread has its own holiday theme (“Christmas dinner!” “Christmas elf!”), which is represented by anywhere from three to eight labeled objects. Religious and secular traditions both get glancing mentions (the “Christmas nativity!” spread features the Three Wise Men, a donkey, a lamb, and an unlabeled picture of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus) in a bare-bones primer for those who are just starting to learn what Christmas is all about. Ages 1–3. (Sept.)