The Twelve Tales of Christmas

Ethel King-Shaw is professor emerita of curriculum and instruction in
the Department of Teacher Preparation, University of Calgary.

Included in this collection are such familiar characters as Rudolph the
lead reindeer, the partridge and the pear tree, Mr. and Mrs. Santa, Joey
the kangaroo, Peter Pan, and Father Time. One of the selections, a
parody on the well-known poem “The Night Before Christmas,”
exemplifies most notably the collection’s tendency to be disappointing
in its use of language. A few of the stories provide a moral but do so
in a heavy-handed manner; a more subtle approach would probably have
made the point more effectively. Some of the stories—particularly
“The Christmas Angel”—are quite charming. All the stories have a
definite conclusion (which young children will like), and the book
itself ends on an optimistic note. Recommended with reservations.