CHRISTMAS GIFT-BRINGERS
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On Christmas Eve, it develops that young Sidney Mouse is a skeptic. To convince him that Santa does exist, his parents lead him across the attic to a book that looks just like this one; from it they read him stories about St. Nicholas in his different forms, Christkindl, the Scandinavian elves, the Magi, and Befana/Babouschka. Predictably, Sidney is converted. The pedestrian framing story here adds little, but the international survey will be useful. Most valuable are Lubin's meticulously detailed illustrations, each shown with the mouse family of five in rapt observation. List of books for further reading.