THE CHRISTMAS ARK

Becalmed in a fog en route to join their forty-niner father in San Francisco, Tessie and Sarah are disappointed not to arrive in time for Christmas. A magical adventure puts things in perspective: Saint Nick, looking like the Noah in their toy ark, turns up in an airship ark and takes them around the world while he delivers gifts, his many stops including their old home in Maine and the hotel room in San Francisco where Papa has Christmas waiting for them. The attractive watercolor illustrations here stir the imagination more than the long, predictable text, but only half the exotic scenes described are shown. An adequate additional seasonal book. (Picture book. 5-9)