Guess Who’s Coming to Santa’s for Dinner? by Tomie dePaola
This year, Santa and Mrs. Claus are having their entire family over for Christmas dinner. There’s Uncle Alfred, the inventor from Bermuda; Sister Olga, the opera singer; eight young children, including Baby Willie; and even a polar bear named Oscar. With a family like this, mayhem is bound to follow; and from a snowball fight to the Christmas pageant to the meal itself, it’s a wild affair. But in the spirit of the season, everyone has a wonderful time—even the frazzled hosts!
The illustrations are cute and lively, as expected, and tell more of the story than the words alone. It’s nice to know that Santa’s family is just as dysfunctional as the rest of us. This was a difficult book to read aloud, though. There are simply too many speech bubbles, and it feels jumpy. Amber liked the book, but wondered why no one in the story brought up the fact that the one character is basically a thief, as the pictures show.