Every Spot book runs on the same small piece of genius: a toddler lifts a flap, is wrong, and thinks that is hilarious. This one puts it under the tree. Spot's family is getting the house ready for Christmas when Spot disappears, and finding him means opening the cupboard, the box, the curtain and everything else on the page.

Eric Hill invented that flap in 1980 with Where's Spot? and this is the same machinery, rebuilt sturdy. The flaps are board, hinged into board, so a determined one year old has to work at destroying them. Lifting them is also real fine motor practice, which is why these keep turning up on preschool shelves.

Sixteen pages of bold flat color that reads from across the room. Small enough for a stocking, sturdy enough to still be in the Christmas box in five years.