In Dasher Can’t Wait for Christmas, Matt Tavares continues the endearing story line he began with Dasher, telling kids about Santa’s Christmas deliveries from the perspectives of Santa’s reindeer.
Dasher is the youngest of the reindeer helping Santa, and shares the same impatience and excitement for the holidays that many young children feel. As Tavares explained in an interview: “Dasher is a little kid, in a lot of ways. She’s adventurous, curious, kind, and brave. And like a lot of little kids, Dasher has a very hard time waiting for Christmas!”
On the night before Christmas Eve, Dasher thought she heard Christmas carols, and got so excited, she ran off and flew towards the music. Then she saw colorful lights – Christmas lights! – and flew faster. She found them, and was enjoying the spectacle so much she barely noticed it had started to snow and that the sky had turned into a blanket of white. She couldn’t find the North Star, so she couldn’t find her way home to the North Pole.
Exhausted and hungry, she stopped at a house with a beautiful lit-up Christmas tree in the front yard. A little girl came out, and gave Dasher what she needed to find her way home. With Santa’s help, Dasher found a way to repay the child.
Evaluation: This heartwarming story and gorgeous illustrations also by Tavares will appeal to the intended audience of 3-8 in multiple ways. What kids can’t relate to the impatience they feel before a holiday, or getting carried away by excitement, or the fear of getting lost, the relief of getting saved, and the magic of the kindness of strangers? This book shows that Christmas is about more than getting gifts, while its lack of any religious content makes it relatable to kids of all faiths.
Note: You can see a book trailer on YouTube, here:
Rating: 4/5
Published by Candlewick Press, 2023
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