Write a Review Wednesday: The Great Reindeer Rebellion

Welcome to another Write a Review Wednesday, a meme started by Tara Lazar as a way to show support to authors of kids literature. Last week I looked at a great new picture book for preschoolers, Meeow and the Big Box (age 2-4 ) fromSterling Children’s Books and written/illustrated by Sebastien Braun. With December just around the corner, I can’t help but get into the Christmas spirit all ready. And it’s easy with The Great Reindeer Rebellion (4-8), a funny Christmas rhyme written by Lisa Trumbauer and illustrated by Jannie Ho. Thank you Derry from Sterling Publishing for my review copy.

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‘Twas the week before Christmas,
and somewhere up north,
dear Santa was frantic –
he paced back and forth.

He had just heard some news
that he sure didn’t like:
It seemed that the reindeer
were going on strike.

Following the same rhythm as The Night Before Christmas story, Lisa Trumbauer spins a laugh out loud tale about Santa’s trials and tribulations on finding a new sleigh team. How hard could it be to find eight animals to help Santa and save Christmas. Not hard it turns out. Cats and dogs, flamingos and kangaroos, even elephants all offer their services to Santa; eager to pull the sleigh on that one magical night.

But Santa and the animals soon discover that not everyone is cut out to pull the sleigh. Fresh baked cookies, mice and even the Christmas presents seem to cause problems for sleigh team after sleigh team. It’s not until the reindeer offer a solution that everything back on track.

The first thing I noticed with this book is the page stock. Unlike most picture books, the pages are stiff cardboard making it easy for even younger readers (or lookers) to enjoy without much fear of page ripping. Although The Great Reindeer Rebellion isn’t a touch-and-feel book, some of the images are embossed adding a nice dimension to the pages.

Reindeer on strike!

All three of my kids loved this story. The familiar rhyme drew them right in. The pages are layed out in such a way that the kids enjoyed guessing what mess the new sleigh team fell into. The placement of the text also added to the lyrical feel of the whole story; it weaves wonderfully through the pages. Jannie Ho’s illustrations are bright and fun, adding to the feel of the whole story as they fill the page. She did a wonderful job carrying the reader from one sleigh incident to another. The kids loved seeing the background images of the flamingos with bandages in the background as the next sleight team made their attempt.

The Great Reindeer Rebellion is delightful Christmas story. When we were done reading, my kids went on at great lengths discussing and debating other animals that could pull Santa’s sleigh and if they’d be successful or not.

The Great Reindeer Rebellion will certainly have a spot on our holiday book shelf. You can add a copy to your personal library from Amazon.ca If you’re looking for other great book suggestions, read some the past Write a Review Wednesday posts.