McGinley’s 1956 text returns with a huge trim and new, robust illustrations. When an exhausted Santa can’t face yet another Christmas Eve, he announces that he’ll take that year off. Appalled but sympathetic, children from around the world deliver presents and letters to Santa to show their appreciation for his past service, and by Christmas Eve Santa has had a change of heart. The rollicking, rhyming text is on the long side but good fun, with some delightful tongue-twisters and felicitous rhyming pairs. The cartoony illustrations have a '50s comic-book feel, and Santa himself has a rough-around-the-edges (sometimes just rough) look. For today’s kids used to countless twists on the St. Nick shtick, this nostalgia trip may be a bit ho-ho-hum, but read aloud with enough energy it may hit the spot. (Picture book. 4-7)
