A CHRISTMAS TREASURY

Hawkes (Handel Who Knew What He Liked, p. 1352, etc.) illustrates this large-format anthology of Christmas stories and poems with his luminous, detail-filled paintings featuring muffler-wrapped field mice, a comical dog in a Santa suit, and a traditional St. Nicholas traveling across a midnight-blue sky. A selection from The Wind in the Willows finds Mole and Rat returning to Mole’s house, where they are serenaded by a troop of caroling mice who are then invited in for a delectable holiday feast. “Christmas at the Hollow Tree Inn” by Albert Bigelow Paine tells the story of an enterprising dog who plays Santa Claus for his circle of animal friends, and Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas” completes the collection with old-fashioned illustrations of a snowy New England village. The Christmas carols included are “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” and “The Friendly Beasts.” No new ground is broken in this volume, but Hawkes’s illustrations are appealing, especially his costumed animal characters, and readers will be drawn to the attractive cover with the title in raised golden letters. (Picture book. 5-8)