MERRY WITCHMAS

A young witch won’t give up on receiving a visit from Santa.

Ginger is a typical witch, except that in addition to Halloween, Ginger adores Christmas. As soon as Halloween is over, her home is filled with the scent of gingerbread skeletons and hot cocoa bubbling in her cauldron. She works hard throughout the season to earn a place on Santa’s Nice List, but despite her efforts, she never gets a visit from Santa. Finally, she writes a special letter to help Santa find her. Santa must believe in witches in order to see her home. When Santa receives the letter, he is flummoxed. He has never heard of Ginger and, quite frankly, didn’t believe witches were real, so he never looked for them. But, he figures, if millions of children believe in him, he can believe in witches. This Christmas, he brings a special gift along and is astonished to find Ginger’s home right where she indicated on her hand-drawn map. Ginger is finally included in the Christmas festivities. Both text and pictures are a clever, dizzying mashup of Halloween and Christmas motifs, like jack-o’-lanterns topped with Santa hats and a flying broom with a red bow. The colorful cartoon-style illustrations depict Ginger and Santa as White, with some diversity among the extra characters (elves and friends). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Fans of both holidays will find this unusual mix fun and engaging.