We had great fun picking the picture books for the December box.
Santa’s Eleven Months Off is a delightful rhyming book by Mike Reiss from New York. Each double page spread shows Santa’s crazy adventures throughout the year. In January he joins the gym to lose some weight. In February he’s off to Hollywood for sushi and flashy cars. In July he’s a super-spy for the government. In October he thinks it’s funny to dress up as the Easter Bunny! In addition to writing several children’s books, Mike is also a television writer for The Simpsons. Fabulous illustrations which were originally in oil are by Michael G. Montgomery from Georgia.
Deck the Halls is a charming Canadian tongue-in-cheek re-telling of the Christmas Carol. Our hero is a jolly Porcupine. He is joined by busy beavers building, caribou in pompom hoodies, a polar bear in a Christmas sweater and a Sasquatch who is all thumbs at wrapping presents. Author Helaine Becker of Toronto, Ontario has won numerous awards for her work including the Silver Birch Award. Illustrator Werner Zimmermann was born in Austria before moving to southern Ontario as a child. This is the third book in the bestselling, award-winning series; A Porcupine in a Pine Tree: A Canadian 12 Days of Christmas and Dashing Through the Snow: A Canadian Jingle Bells.