PAUL'S CHRISTMAS BIRTHDAY

Although his problem is a little one, it will be easy to sympathize with Paul, whose birthday comes on the day before Christmas. But Paul has the other children looking forward to something other than Christmas when he sends them invitations to his birthday party, promising a visit from a man from space. The visitor turns out to be Santa Claus with gifts of hand puppets for all--which quite satisfies the guests, although readers might accept the trick more grudgingly. Anyway, Paul goes to bed that night happy that Santa comes to his house twice, and Donald Carrick gives the whole episode such a nice warm glow that that's enough.