The Smallest Gift of Christmas

September 16, 2013
A boy with grand holiday expectations discovers that size is relative when it comes to gifts. Roland’s Christmas-morning anticipation quickly turns to frustration when he spies “the smallest gift he had ever seen” waiting for him under the tree. He promptly makes a series of wishes, “as hard as he could,” for something bigger—and a parade of increasingly larger presents appears. His quest for a gift of truly worthy heft leads him into outer space, where he gains a new appreciation for the faraway, tiny Earth—his home. Roland’s red polka-dot pajamas are among the splashes of holiday color in the spirited vignettes that playfully accent ample white space and Reynolds’s brief, hand-lettered text. Ages 3–7. Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties.