• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2023 July #1
  *Starred Review* The question of how roly-poly Santa can squeeze himself down any chimney, and even insinuate himself into spaces that have no chimney, is quite a stumper. But this mystery is tackled head-on (and hilariously) by the multi-award-winning team of Barnett and Klassen (The Three Billy Goats Gruff, 2022). Starting with a wordless spread, the book shows Santa in profile against a black background, sizing up a brick chimney. He hands his red jacket to a Boynton-like vertical reindeer and then uses his thick black belt to cinch in his waist. This scene is followed by the big question, "How does he do it?" Then comes a cascade of possible solutions that include shrinking himself down to the size of a mouse or stretching himself out like taffy. More and more tricky situations are laid out, like how he gets into a home without a chimney (cue the image of Santa plopping out like an elongated drop through a kitchen faucet). Klassen's illustrations, done in graphite pencil and ink and finished digitally, fit the absurdist humor wonderfully. The conclusion—that the narrator has no idea how Santa does it but is glad he can—is a great kicker. Preschool-Grade 2. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.

Mac Barnett is a New York Times best-selling author of several books for children, including Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, the Shapes Trilogy, and many others illustrated by Jon Klassen. He is also the author of Just Because, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault; A Polar Bear in the Snow, illustrated by Shawn Harris; John’s Turn, illustrated by Kate Berube; and Twenty Questions, illustrated by Christian Robinson. Winner of three New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book Awards and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, Mac Barnett lives in Oakland, California.

Jon Klassen is the creator of the #1 New York Times best-selling I Want My Hat Back, which won a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor, and its companions This Is Not My Hat, which won a Caldecott Medal and a Kate Greenaway Medal, and We Found a Hat. He is also the author-illustrator of The Rock from the Sky and The Skull, and the illustrator of Extra Yarn, Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, and the Shapes Trilogy, all by Mac Barnett. Originally from Ontario, Jon Klassen now lives in Los Angeles.