Dasher Can’t Wait for Christmas

A reindeer too impatient to wait for Christmas Eve experiences adventure in Tavares’s suspenseful sequel to Dasher. With only one sleep to go before Christmas Eve, Dasher the reindeer investigates what sounds like Christmas carols. “I’ll be back before they even know I’m gone,” she says with confidence before flying off, locating people of various skin tones lifting their voices in a town covered with Christmas lights. But a blizzard keeps Dasher from using the North Star to find her way home, and she stops in front of a strange house. A tender encounter with a pale-skinned child sets the animal on the right path—in the nick of time. In art that makes the most of landscapes, Taveres offers narrative tension (“Tonight is Christmas Eve! You’ve got to get home”), personal stakes (“She was exhausted. And hungry”), and all the picturesque snow that a holiday story requires. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)