A CHRISTMAS PARTY
By
On Christmas Eve/would you believe/the forest gave a party/She asked the little squirrels in/and rabbits, fat and hearty."" Why this 1909 poem about the animals' Christmas feast, merry capers, and visit from Santa has been resurrected is hard to fathom, but the very readers who annually indulge in this sort of thing will delight in Szekeres' delicate full-page paintings of sweatered bunnies in oversized bow ties, split tree tables scattered with carrots and nuts, and other fond scenes of woodland conviviality. And the first page is full warning of what you're in for: on it, two young deer, who might both be named Bambi, peep hesitantly from a snow covered Christmas card forest.