Mr. Willowby’s Head Over Heels Christmas

PreS-Gr 1–In this delightful tale, Barnaby Bear has a madcap adventure delivering a tree to his friend Mr. Willowby. It is pure joy reading the text and seeing a giant bear ride a Christmas tree down the mountain to give to his friend. There is a lot of mischief along the way, mostly due to Barnaby Bear plowing into a bevy of friends as his tree accelerates with rocketlike speed down the mountain, enlisting participants including Frisky Fox, Dusty Duck, Benjamin Rabbit, and others in the tree delivery. Illustrations by DiCicco, based on the characters and art of Barry, are engaging and in some places give the illusion of being three-dimensional, as when the delivery truck that was supposed to bring the grand Christmas tree gets stuck in a snowdrift. Back matter includes a photograph of the author and some of the original artwork from the text. This title is likely to appeal to readers of many generations: for young ­children it’s a standalone title, but for adults it provides nostalgia, too.