Vrolijk Helloween,Lieve Kerstman

In a sequel to Li'l Santa that is every bit as bizarre and grisly and warmhearted as the first, Happy Halloween, Li'l Santa is a completely wordless graphic novel with so much action and adventure, readers won't know what hit them! First, the "li'l" red-suited hero gets a talking-to from his penguin buddy for trying to sneak samples from the his picnic basket. Then he has a chance encounter with a ghastly but friendly creature (a turbaned cross between mummy and skeleton) that causes a bewildered Santa to walk into several trees. Next, he winds up rescuing this fellow from a frozen pond incident, leading to a wild party with all the cheerful demons and ghouls in the mummy-man's coffin-sleigh. As everyone knows, what goes around comes around, so when Santa needs some help later, you know who comes running (and flying and sliming and lurching). This may be the oddest book around, but it has true charm. Younger children may be alarmed at the beating Santa and his pals keep getting (what with walking into trees and wrangling with evil lumberjack monster-machines), but all's well that ends well. Each page features 14 or 15 frames, ensuring that the plot hops along rapidly, once "readers" get the hang of it. A quirky delight for Halloween or Christmas! (All ages) --Emilie Coulter