The 12 Days of Christmas

September 1, 2017
The traditional holiday song is illustrated with a nontraditional approach, featuring a pair of young elephants as the gift-giver and the recipient. A young elephant and its parent must cope with the flood of animal gifts in this perky version of the popular holiday carol. The gift-giving elephant arrives wearing a red Santa hat and bearing the familiar partridge in a pear tree, continuing with the traditional gifts through seven swans a-swimming. While the lyrics remain the familiar ones, characters for the eighth through 12th days of Christmas are represented by different animals, with mice as eight maids a-milking, cats as nine ladies dancing, and so on. The parent elephant grows increasingly annoyed by the arrival of all these critters, finally bursting into tears when all the animals are assembled after the final countdown. The parent is soothed by the partridge, who flies up onto the elephant's head. The appealing animals are illustrated in cartoon style with funny hats and costumes in a fresh palette of orangey red, pink, and lime green. Children will need to be thoroughly familiar with a traditionally illustrated version of the song in order to understand this takeoff. The annoyed parent elephant is also a bit problematic to this interpretation, as the expected dynamic between "true loves" is diminished by the insertion of the parental figure. A cheerful, busy vision of the classic holiday song. (Picture book. 3-6)

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Starred review from September 4, 2017
A classic carol gets a dose of reality as Pizzoli (Good Night Owl) pokes fun at the material excess of the holidays. The gift giving starts small as a young elephant receives a partridge in a pear tree, delivered by an elephant wearing a Santa hat (an older sibling, perhaps). The elephant is delighted, but as additional gifts arrive—hens, geese, dancing cats, leaping frogs, and more—its parent reacts to the growing household chaos with a mix of bewilderment, disapproval, and anger. “Phew!” the adult elephant sighs, clutching a bag of bulk birdseed during the (brief) reprieve of “five golden rings.” The parental elephant’s frustration crescendos and gives way to tears, but a group hug sets everything right—and a closing shot of a fireplace blanketed with stockings suggests that these “gifts” have quickly become family. An irresistible read-aloud. Ages 3–5. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.

October 1, 2017

PreS-Gr 2-The traditional lyrics of the popular yuletide song are brought to life by Pizzoli's signature art of adorable animal characters engaging in progressively zany antics. A little elephant wearing a Santa hat brings a multitude of presents that require a great deal of care, much to the dismay of the little elephant recipient's parent. By the 12th day, the cacophony of various types of fowl, milkmaid mice, dancing cats, leaping frogs, musical rabbits, and drum-banging pigs has the elder elephant glaring with scorn and finally giving way to tears. The crowd falls silent, and the young elephants offer comfort. A pear and a hug are enough to bring a hesitant smile to the adult's face. All is well, and the closing page shows the partridge in the pear tree in front of a lit fireplace with 76 stockings waiting to be filled. VERDICT Loads of fun for a small group sing-along or simply perusing for details.-Linda Israelson, Los Angeles Public Library

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