No paint, no palette, no mess to clean up. The color is already in the paper. A child brushes plain water across a bold black and white drawing and a carol singing penguin, a well filled stocking or Santa himself comes up in full color under the brush.

That is the whole trick, and for a three year old it never stops being one. The designs are drawn large and simple, with heavy outlines, so a child who cannot yet stay inside the lines still gets a finished picture. A quality bamboo paintbrush comes with the book, so nothing else needs buying.

Thirty two pages, sixteen of them to paint. This is the one to keep in the bag for a restaurant table or the long stretch of December afternoon before dinner.