...And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

The holiday classic "The Twelve Days of Christmas" gets tweaked. A partridge who wears a Santa hat and has a pear tree home full of Christmas decor just wants a mellow Yuletide season but is repeatedly disturbed by the arrival of daily gifts sent by an unseen "true love" who is, it must be said, going overboard. First, two turtledoves show up. Then three French hens appear, followed by four calling birds, and so on; by the time the 12 drumming drummers arrive, the mishegas has spilled onto the partridge's yard. While readers are singing along with the cumulative holiday earworm, they will witness the conflicted partridge showing resistance (by trying to seal the pear tree's door), capitulating (by providing towels for the seven swans a-swimming in the bathtub), resisting again (by putting a "private property" sign in the yard), and capitulating again (by dancing with the nine ladies and pretending to pipe along with the 11 pipers). The partridge concludes the song with the (presumably sung) realization that the whole rollicking production amounts to "a book that's all about meeeeee!" Evans' verses, relayed in an elegant old-timey font and enacted by a multiracial, multi-animal cast, come to life in Ganz's chunky jewel-toned art full of gags that reward the keen-eyed, especially those keeping tabs on the song's five gold rings, which move around as pages are turned. A dazzling, carousing rendition of the Christmas mainstay. * Kirkus Reviews *