HOW BROWN MOUSE KEPT CHRISTMAS

What is it about little mice scampering around a Christmas tree that picture-book purveyors consider sufficiently charming to justify annual repackaging? This latest entry shows the usual old-fashioned extended family trimming the tree on Christmas Eve; then it shows the Mouse family sneaking out for its share of holiday goodies while the people sleep. Brown Mouse, the youngest, is enchanted by the sugarplums and shining tinsel on the tree and the ""tingly"" music of his little mouse feet on the piano strings; but none of the mice thinks ""it strange at all when an old, white-haired man [comes] down the chimney in the middle of the night."" By morning they have all slipped away and the family comes downstairs, noticing ""a few odd details"" out of place but easily distracted by the new sleds to be tried in the snow. And that's it. The cat sleeps through the whole escapade, probably so accustomed to the scene that he doesn't even rouse himself for the usual exit-line chase.