The Twelve Days of Christmas
PreS-Gr 1-A little girl sneaks a look at a wrapped present on the night before Christmas-a snow globe of a partridge in a pear tree-and accidentally breaks it. Falling asleep, she dreams of Santa giving her a ride on his sled, during which he gives her two turtledoves and all the rest of the traditional gifts in the song. Arriving back at his workshop, he repairs the broken gift, and the girl wakes up to Christmas morning to a wrapped-up, unbroken snow globe. The dream setting of Santa's sleigh above snowy rooftops makes as good a backdrop as any for those odd gifts, from fussy French hens to swans startling the milkmaids and their cows (all wearing fluffy bonnets). Families looking for a singable version of the song will be disappointed, but they will likely enjoy the story and the exuberant, oversize illustrations.-Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Libraryα(c) Copyright 2013.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.