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4.5
TOOT AND PUDDLE I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS is the first book in this series that we have read, and it has been an instant family favorite. Toot & Puddle are good friends and delightfully different characters.Holly Hobbie's watercolor paintings are really spectacular. She does a great job of creating very expressive characters. She also does gorgeous work creating the domestic and nature scenes that are the backdrop for Toot and Puddle's conversations. I got an artists friend to look at the book (I was so excited about discovering it), and she agreed that the two paintings of Toot and Puddle outside in moonlit snow are brilliant.The thing I most love about this book is the emphasis on holidauys as a time we spend with the people we love. There is no big deal made about getting and giving presents. The only present we talk about is the lucky nut that Toot is given by his Great-Great-Aunt. Toot brings it home from Scotland and hangs it on the tree he shares with Puddle and Tulip.There is also no big deal made about Santa Claus. You may think you spot him, but you can't say for sure.Delightful! We have read this book three or four times a day for two weeks, and it looks as if it is going to take us through to Christmas Eve. The book ends by saying "when they wake it will be Christmas," and I fully expect that will be the last line of the last sleepytime book we read on Christmas Eve this year.
