Book Description
for Presents Through the Window by Taro Gomi
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Santa goes from house to house on Christmas Eve, peeking in the windows to determine what gift to leave. Die-cut pages show the scene through each window. A small kitten? Santa leaves a bow. Black and white stripes? It must be a zebra so Santa leaves a striped scarf to match. A dark window? Clearly no one’s home, so Santa doesn’t leave anything. But the view through each window is limited, and every page turn reveals the entire room. The kitten is a stuffed animal clutched by a sleeping pig. The stripes were actually the necks of three white geese against a dark wall. The dark window isn’t an empty house; it’s the coat of a big black bear. What looks like crocodile teeth are the ears of a group of adorable sleeping rabbits, gifted with a single, extra large sweater. Luckily, the odd gifts are appreciated, with one of the mistakes even providing an extra gift for the bear when Santa assumes another house has twins. The fun is in the silliness, and in children being in on the joke, while good intentions mean the joke is never at Santa’s expense. Simple figures and saturated colors add to the appeal. (Ages 3–5)
CCBC Choices 2017. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2017. Used with permission.