Cut to the outline of the elf on its cover, this one does not read as a rectangle in a toddler's hands. The die cut runs up over his hat and down around the snowdrift at his feet, and every page holds that same silhouette, which is the first thing a small child notices about it.

Inside, one of Santa's helpers walks you through his working day. He waves from a snowbank beside a lit tree and a snowman, and behind him a path runs up past the North Pole sign to Santa's workshop, where two mice are rolling a snowman of their own. The workshop spread is the good one: shelves of toys, a conveyor carrying a pink teddy, a guitar and a red and green truck past a gingerbread house, and two elves at a bench tying a ribbon around a present. At the end the reindeer are fed a bucket of carrots before the big night, and the sleigh is loaded to the top with gifts.

Ten pages, thick board, and small enough at roughly 6 1/2 by 5 inches for a child to carry it around by themselves. It is short enough to finish before a toddler loses interest and it stands up to being read every night through December.

Shaped board book, 10 pages, 6.56 by 5.06 by 0.56 in. Cottage Door Press, 2021. ISBN-13 9781646383115. Written by Holly Berry-Byrd and illustrated by Chiara Fiorentino.

See Peek-a-Flap Jolly Read Peter Rabbit: The Christmas Star Browse every board book we carry