CHRISTMAS CHEER

Christmas revelries are presented on shaped pages in this French import.

In this “bookscape,” thick board pages form the shapes of: two families making cookies (one on each side of the page), two snow-covered cottages (ditto), a winter landscape featuring animals and snowmen, and, finally, a Christmas tree with a star on top. Terse, forgettable (and uncredited) text is sprinkled throughout, but it is more pro forma than necessary. The droll art in gentle colors employs simple shapes and clean lines. The people, who look like they could be iced Christmas cookies themselves, range in skin color from pink to beige and do not seem to be very diverse. There are a couple of clever moments for the sharp-eyed: A squirrel steals a carrot off a snowman, and a red-nosed reindeer makes an appearance. Safety-conscious adults may wonder why lit candles are being used to decorate the tree or a child is eating cookie dough off a spoon. While the spine is truncated to accommodate the overlapping, shaped pages, the extra-thick pages make it relatively sturdy. While it may physically survive more than one season, however, the slight content doesn’t encourage holiday rereading.

Attractive—but as ephemeral as a Christmas card.