Review Detail

IN THE HOLLY JOLLY NORTH POLE is a delightful pop-up holiday board book. Each page features a large pop-up of a scene from the North Pole with a small rhyme to describe it. For instance, getting and sorting mail, making toys, baking with Mrs. Claus, and loading up the sleigh. The last page features Santa and the reindeer flying off to deliver toys.

What I loved: This is an imaginative and adorable pop-up book. The pop-ups were multi-tier, taking up nearly the whole page with plenty of characters and details on the scenery. Behind the pop-ups was black, adding to the dimensionality. The colorful images included plenty to visually explore on each page. A favorite in our house was the mail delivery page with mail coming down a large chute as elves rush to sort and read it.

The text rhymes nicely and has a great rhythm that rolls off the tongue. While each page features a different scene and related text, the overall story is one of how the North Pole gets ready for Christmas deliveries. The text was located at the bottom of each spread, making it easy to find amongst the busy images.

What left me wanting more: As a small thing, the pop-ups were somewhat thin, like a light cardstock. This makes them easy to rip for eager readers. As the page is black behind them (versus a duplicated image), this may be tough when they are removed as you lose the whole scene.

Final verdict: Overall, IN THE HOLLY JOLLY NORTH POLE is a delightful Christmas-themed pop-up that makes for a great holiday read. Recommend for older toddlers through young elementary school readers.