Wake Up Santa Claus!

On the day before Christmas, the most important day of his year, Santa sleeps in; from there the disasters snowball. The jolly fat man can't get the reindeer to fly and his sack of toys won't fit through the workshop door. Such is the stuff of Santa's worst nightmare as depicted in Pfister's (The Rainbow Fish) holiday fantasy. When Santa realizes it's all a dream, he manages his Christmas duties like clockwork. Fuzzily edged watercolors with plenty of icy white snow set an appropriate wintry tone, but the it's-only-a-dream conceit is an unwelcome old chestnut. Ages 5-8. (Sept.)