Jeannette Claus Saves Christmas    by Douglas Rees & Olivier Latyk Order:  USA  Can Margaret K. McElderry, 2010 (2010) Hardcover Read an Excerpt      Reviewed by Bob Walch Christmas is a very special and busy time of the year. Trust me, I know, because I am Santa's daughter. Well, you won't believe this, but one Christmas Eve my dad was so sick he couldn't do his usual toy delivery route. I volunteered to step up but Pop wasn't too enthusiastic about the idea. He was so sick, though, that finally he admitted that he couldn't go and I would have to cover for him. Cool! I thought, that was until dad told me what a pain in the pants the reindeer could be. Really? Now who would have thought those cute little reindeer could be difficult? No way! Well the first part of our delivery went OK. In fact, I was feeling pretty good about the whole deal and then ... disaster struck. I had just landed on a building when I heard the pin connecting the reindeer's harness fall to the roof. 'Suffering sugarplums,' I cried out. But before I could do anything or fix the problem, Dasher sparked a rebellion and told all his buddies to 'Dash away, dash away, dash away all.' And they did! So, there I am sitting with all those toys and no wheels (well actually no hooves!) 'Come back here, you stupid hat racks!' I shouted. Did they obey? Of course not! This was a terrible situation but what could I do? I needed help moving that sleigh full of toys. I was really afraid that was the end of Christmas Eve as far as the deliveries went. I knew my dad would not be very happy about this mess. Much to my surprise, I heard a noise down below in the alley. I slid down a drainpipe to investigate and there was the answer to my dilemma. Although I do not intend to tell you exactly what I found or how the evening was salvaged, let it suffice to say that all the good little boys and girls did get their toys on schedule (well, maybe we were a little bit behind). So when we got back to the North Pole those mutinous reindeer were in for a big surprise. Not only did they discover that they were not indispensible, but they also had to make room for some new critters. I think you'll get a good laugh over how this Christmas Eve turned out! Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Kids books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews