So it's time for the grouch to review a few Christmas books even though it's not even Thanksgiving as of this post. I'm not a big fan of Christmas, in particular the crass commercialism that starts in friggin' September for goodness sake. For me, Christmas has typically been the chance to celebrate the winter solstice and see some good movies on TV, so if you set me up with a drink, some decent food and a couple of decent movies and then go off and play all the games you want, and try on all the sweaters and pajamas, and slippers you desire, and I won't care! I'll be happy!
You know, I've never bought into those dumb reindeer names that everyone but me seems to have inexplicably embraced, because I never grew up with that abominable poem in my head. I have two problems with it and one is the sheer sexism in the explicit claim that only male reindeer can pull the sleigh. And for that matter, even the rather racist stance that only reindeer can pull the sleigh. One thing I agree on with this author though, is that I always did feel that Rudolf got way more credit than he deserved for the gig, so I applaud Matt Tavares in bringing Dasher (or whatever his real name was) to the fore in this story, which is well-illustrated, nicely-written and tells and decent story.
