WARTON'S CHRISTMAS EVE ADVENTURE
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A grouchy bear catches the Christmas spirit, and toad Warton gets lost in a snow storm because he stops to help a nearsighted mole, in Erickson's latest representation of the cozy joys of helping others. As he and the mole take shelter in a cave Warton keeps hoping he won't miss his unspecified ""favorite part"" of Christmas Eve, and when the bear whose cave they've invaded offers at last to carry them home (""so that I can get some sleep""), it turns out to be just in time--for Grandpa Arbuckle's recitation of the Christmas story. Erickson puts toads on pogo sticks and supplies a few other cunning touches, but the universal sweetness gets as sticky as brother Morton's holiday fly pie.