CHRISTMAS HAS MERRY!

The inverted logic of this patterned text by Ziefert (Halloween Has Boo, 2002, etc.) will be amusing to adult readers, but the humor may be lost on most of the traditional audience of the board book set. The patterned text offers 15 examples of the “Cheeks have cherry. Christmas has merry!” construction, which will be puzzling rather than funny to those who are still assimilating grammatical structures. (“Beds have sleeps,” for example.) However, extremely verbal two-year-olds and older preschoolers (and their parents) will find some of the text structures quite funny, as in “Stockings have toeses. Moms have dozes,” or “Presents have crinkles. Santas have wrinkles.” Doughty collaborates again for the third entry in this series with her sophisticated illustrations, using an angular style with the structures outlined in ink and a contemporary palette that incorporates lavender and citrus shades into the holiday spectrum. The text is hand-lettered in the wobbling printing style of a first-grader, and in fact beginning readers should be an additional audience for this volume, as five- and six-year-olds will appreciate the humor and illustration style if they can get beyond the “little kid’s” format. The cover features a special-effects Christmas package in shiny holographic silver ornamented with a cutout Christmas tree. For those who like their Christmas sugarplums tart rather than sweet. (Board book. 1-6)