At first glance, their book threatens to be too wacky for its own good, but Reiss quickly saves the tale with fun rhymes and abundant cleverness. Santa Claus suffers from recurring nightmares about getting stuck in a lit chimney ("I smell something cooking. I'm not sure just what. Is it ham? Is it lamb? No, I think it's my butt!"), which clearly points to a case of Santa Claustrophobia. So Doc Holiday wisely prescribes (what else?) a holiday, arranging for St. Nick's Christmas duties to be handled by the April Fool, St. Patrick, the Tooth Fairy, et al. ("There were even a few who weren't so famous, like the Arbor Day Aardvark and Labor Day Amos.") But the well-meaning Doc soon finds that replacing the Big Guy isn't that easy: Cupid attaches long, time-consuming love notes to each present, Columbus on delivery-detail insists on sailing "east to go west, then west to go east," and the Easter Bunny has trouble gift-wrapping ("his paws were too small") so resorts to painting all the presents in pastels.

Fortunately, a tanned, toned Santa Claus returns from Aruba just in time to save the day: "If chimneys are tight, I've got nothing to fear: I lost twenty pounds--nineteen from my rear!" Both kids and adults will enjoy the same humor Reiss showed in Murray, but some of the biggest laughs in the book undoubtedly belong to Catrow's details (including a genius Father Time from 1969, sporting a plastic pick sticking out of his huge gray afro). (Ages 4 to 8) --Paul Hughes