La Befana, a winter witch from Italian folklore, introduces herself via free verse in this translation of Cuoghi’s enigmatic tribute to the magic of 12th night—when “night hangs motionless between/ the final sigh of the holidays and the return to daily life.” With a wry tone, Befana describes the holiday (“this suspended and magical time in which/ we can even talk to animals”), taking care to distinguish herself from other notable figures (“I have nothing to do/ with that clumsy oaf dressed in red/... don’t ask me for gifts./ I’ll use your little letters to wrap my fish”). Washed in candy colors, Beretta’s shape-based artwork mixes natural motifs with contemporary geometric human-made environments, modernizing the story’s mythic dimensions. Back matter provides clarifying context. Ages 5–8. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

Rudd’s relatable second-person rhymes reflect on the quiet days after Christmas festivities, resulting in this gentle spin on the usual yuletide fare. A hint of melancholy emerges in early lines that describe the process of reverting to normalcy: farewells are said, decorations get boxed up, and the fridge is cleaned out. “You remember before/ when it was just beginning.// Now it all seems too finished,// too over, too ending.” Before sadness sets in, though, cozy moments and time outdoors in the snow invigorate—just the reset needed to help everyone cherish holiday memories while looking ahead. Mapping closely to the text, Chavarri’s jewel-colored renderings follow several families, depicted with a range of skin tones, as they move through the post-Christmas period and relish the remaining residue of holiday cheer. A craft concludes. Ages 3–6. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

Faruqi gives a longing voice to an unoccupied house watching as its neighbor residences are festooned in lights, including Diwali lamps and Hanukkah menorahs. When a family, portrayed with brown skin, moves in, the house hopes to be lighted up for the approaching yuletide. But the newcomers don’t decorate, and though the house is filled with the mouthwatering smell of golden rice, the parents work through the holiday (“so our friends can celebrate with their families,” they say). Even so, House feels cozy with its new residents and, months later, gets its lights—during Eid. Alam’s spellbinding illustrations of suburban tranquility are populated with snow-laden rooftops, multicolored twinkle lights, and feelings of loving camaraderie in this holiday tale whose charming conceit is matched by the visible glow of the house, at last happily winking its lights. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

One snowy winter night, a child observes their family’s fully lit menorah, pondering “A long-ago miracle,/ Of long-lasting light.” Wondering, “Where is the miracle now?” the child imagines the menorah’s luminosity traveling across the globe and into space (“North, South, East, West.// To cities, towns, shelters, and villages/ That I’ve never seen”), and frequently visiting children observing many light-based traditions. Named in an author’s note as Hanukkah, Diwali, Christmas, Kwanzaa, St. Lucia Day, and Loy Krathong, these celebrations are portrayed broadly in the work. A glimmering stream appears throughout Blinick’s layered digital artwork, while Heald’s musing text grounds the idea that “How far the light travels is a miracle./ How fast the light travels is a miracle./ Seeing your light is a miracle.” Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–7. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

“When the days get shorter/ and the night sneaks in early,” write mother-daughter collaborators Yolen and Semple, “we celebrate the light.” The creators pay tribute to seven luminous holidays: Diwali, winter solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Bodhi Day, and Lunar New Year. Chen’s velvety digital images allow each observance to shine across two spreads, visiting a variety of domestic settings, as well as, for solstice, a meadow lit up with a campfire and twinkle lights. Brief, lyrical lines, meanwhile, link holidays through common threads of close bonds, heritage, acknowledgement of a higher power, and a shared continuum of existence that encompasses “the good, the bad, the losses, the gains... and the hopeful days to come.” Characters are portrayed with various abilities and skin tones. Ages 3–6. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

Santa’s ho-ho-ho turns harumph-harumph-harumph in the introduction to this cautionary collection of the most egregious missives he’s received. Kicking off with rhyming quatrains, Santa gathers “the strangest and worst of these letters/ To highlight what you and your friends should resist.” In the correspondence that follows, one child’s request for a unicorn and another’s for emergency homework-help sit alongside gripes from weary parents and frustrated employees (“Our dormitory’s cold and bare./ We need vacations, dental care” note Santa’s elves). San Vicente’s images, digitally collaged with public domain works, visually introduce most of the individual letter-writers and provide each entry with a distinct typeface and illustration style. It’s a work that readers will want to pore over before drafting their own notes to St. Nick. Human characters are portrayed with various skin tones, some fanciful. Ages 8–11. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

Santa’s management skills are put to the test in this chuckle-inducing tale he recounts for the elves about his one-time search for a temporary Christmas Eve reindeer replacement. As the story goes, enthusiastic Elmore Moose answers Santa’s classified ad via snail mail and lands an interview at the North Pole. The ensuing series of hand-lettered communiques and face-to-face meetings—during which Santa discovers that Elmore is neither a reindeer nor experienced in the art of flight—offer readers a jolly diversion. Like any great boss, Santa offers Elmore a sweet gig for which he’s perfectly suited. Petty gives Elmore lots of giggle-worthy lines and an always sunny perspective, and Boldt’s zippy digital artwork showcases bright-eyed characters and funny extras for readers to examine. It’s a warm, comical take on the holiday temp-work trope. Santa is portrayed with light-brown skin; the elves are depicted with various skin tones. Ages 3–7. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

While letters to Santa are a holiday staple, legitimate letters from Santa are much rarer. A few are nevertheless on display in this nifty novelty countdown book. With 12 days left till Christmas, five kids from various countries each send a note to the North Pole describing an imagined gift they’d like to receive, and asking the big guy a question about his job. In turn, Santa, portrayed with pale skin, sends each child a neatly typed response on workshop letterhead, accompanied by a patented design for the child’s requested item (e.g, “remote control parrot”). Readers can view these replies up close when they remove them from airmail envelopes bearing intricate stamps, postmarks, and addresses. The air of magic wafting through the perky rhyming text and old-fashioned visuals may well spark the creativity of some young inventors. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 3–6. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

This warmhearted holiday interlude opens as a polar bear passing the North Pole finds that Santa spends Christmas Day just like any other: making toys. (He does sleep “an extra half hour,” three elves reveal.) The bear’s stern reply—“It’s Christmas”—spurs the group to offer Santa a real celebration, one with a tree to decorate, stockings to hang, and presents to unwrap. Luminous gouache and watercolor spreads by Smith add delectable touches: Santa’s kindly pink face and bushy white eyebrows in early morning sun; the eager pleasure of the elves taking Santa through the day; bright lights, filled stockings, and a groaning banquet table. Barnett tenderly unfurls the day’s events, leaning beat by beat into the meta-possibilities posed by a Christmas created for Santa, as when the elves tell him he can have only one cookie (“We have to save them.... For you know who”). Offering moments of abundance, laughter, and surprise, the creative duo’s assembly of classic yuletide elements gives readers a chance to encounter an old holiday anew—freshly through the eyes of its most iconic figure. The elves are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 3–7. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

When the weather changes, but way before the Christmas tree is decorated, Grandma prepares.” Inspired, per an author’s note, by his own grandmother, Briseño chronicles a matriarch’s tamale production leading up to Christmas, as “with masa in one hand, corn husks in the other,” she makes enough tamales to sell—finding a way “to fill the space underneath the tree.” Via energetic, reiterative text that tracks the woman’s incredible progress, spreads note first how the initial 15 dozen are sold by the speaker’s father “in the cool of the morning... to his co-workers and friends.” At Halloween, Grandma works between trick-or-treaters, reaching 150 dozen tamales. As winter arrives, she’s “just warming up,” her count soon reaching 850 dozen, and then, by Christmas, a whopping 1,000 dozen. In illustrations rendered digitally with handmade brushes and textures, Sánchez uses warm hues for bustling domestic scenes, while text affectionately details the woman’s attributes (giving, funny, tenacious) and helps readers track the tamale count. It’s a triumphant work jam-packed with activity and pure familial love. The Latinx-cued family is portrayed with various skin tones. A tamale recipe concludes. Publishes simultaneously in English and Spanish. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2024 | Details & Permalink