TWELVE DAYS: A Christmas Countdown

Snell (Thicker Than Water) tracks the rhyme scheme to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" in a modern-day variation featuring a girl, one "star-topped little pine tree" and an ensuing plethora of ornaments. O'Malley (Halloween Pie) supplies the fun as his pictures work out just how the little tree stays able to support all those baubles: he shows the narrator's father inflating the tree with a bicycle pump, and, with a little holiday magic, transports the whole shebang to the North Pole. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)