SANTA CLAUS TAKES OFF!

This Santa, short of cash to buy reindeer food, goes to visit his Auntie Flo and gets a job at ``Harridges'' as (what else?) a Santa. Found inferior to the fakes—he spends too much friendly time with each child—he's ``sacked''; later, he copes with a load of too many presents and reindeer with backaches. Undaunted, Santa sets out on his rounds, riding first one present, then another (skis, a mountain bike), meanwhile accumulating traffic tickets from a humorless officer named Bertha. Finally, a gift from Auntie Flo saves the day (well, night), and, with the job done at last, Bertha unbends enough to join the others in a nice British cup of tea. Not nearly as original or as comical as Yorinks's Christmas in July (p. 1352), in which Santa is also confronted with the witless vagaries of contemporary urban society, but the illustrations are bright, cheery, and deftly drawn, while the genre seems to be endlessly popular. (Picture book. 4-8)