A simple riddle format lets toddlers and preschoolers use textual and visual clues to guess the Christmas character or item hidden behind sturdy flaps on each right-hand page.
Following the same pattern used in What Am I? Halloween (2011), a short description written in first person on each left-hand page gives some obvious clues: “I’m topped with a golden star, and my needles are green.” Each flap asks, “What am I? What could I be?” Under the flap, part of the illustration peeks out to give the young reader another way to predict the answer, revealed in both words and the full-scale illustration when the flap is lifted. Following pages introduce the cast of familiar Christmas characters: an angel, a reindeer, a snowman, an elf and Santa, of course. The brightly colored illustrations are done in a cartoon style with large, simple shapes that fit into the lift-the-flap format.
While this format may seem obvious to anyone over the age of 5 (and especially to any older siblings who might pick this up), the structure is remarkably well thought out for the youngest children, who will find the clues-prediction-answer concept an amusing challenge. (Picture book. 1-5)
