Tis the Season: A Lift-the-Flap Advent Calendar Full of Christmas Poems

The illustrations have a soft, chalk pastel feel to them that seems very modern and fresh. This might be in part due to the lavish use of a pale teal instead of an icy blue shade that older Christmas titles tend to employ. The people in the book a nicely diverse, although there are many more animals than people.

The selection of poems is generally good, and highlights include Russell Hoban's (Bedtime for Frances) Winter Ducks, Ogden Nash's Winter Morning, and J. Patrick Lewis' The Red Fox. There is a good sprinkling of traditional holiday verses like Jingle Bells as well. I wish there had been some more modern inclusions, although I know getting permission for those might be harder. Some of the poems will take some explaining, due to some unusual vocabulary. I did enjoy the fact that there were poems from a variety of cultures, and that permission was sought for the usage.

This is certainly an unusual book that could become an advent staple, so I would recommend opening all of the flaps before small fingers attempt them! It's a good idea to branch out from the omnipresent A Child's Garden of Verses by Stevenson when offering poetry to young readers, so Tis the Season is an interesting, holiday themed choice to have, along with Kooser, Wanek, and Jones' Marshmallow Clouds, Yolen's In and Out the Window, and Janeczko and Sweet's Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems.