When an imaginative little boy named Trevor opens his gifts on Christmas morning, he decides that he really should have asked for a puppy. Trevor spends the entire next year making endless lists of all the Christmas presents he wants, until the cartons filled with his notepads stretch all the way from his house to the post office. Unable to pay the postage to ship the cartons to the North Pole, he tries to condense his requests and then misses the deadline for mailing any list at all. Despite his lack of a letter to Santa, on the next Christmas morning Trevor finds the puppy he'd wished for a year ago and realizes that love (from the puppy and his wise parents) is a better gift than all the toys on his lists. Though the rhyming verses are rather sing-song in rhythm and don't always scan perfectly, the story has a tall-tale flavor and over-the-top energy matched by bold, cartoon-style illustrations in a contemporary palette of deep tones. Trevor truly seems to have worked through his year of greed and learned a valuable lesson about celebrating Christmas in a meaningful way. (Picture book. 4-8)Read full book review >