This whodunit with an uplifting ending will appeal to fans of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Instead of a villain who makes off with the fixings of the season, this one steals stories from the shelves as children sleep. While Cindy-Lou Who caught the Grinch in the act, here Eliza Brown, an industrious bunny, corners the Snatchabook.
The rhyme scheme and meter, too, echo Seuss's: "In every house,/ in every bed,/ a bedtime book/ was being read." Charming cutaway views of scenes inside tree trunks and underground burrows show animals snuggled up with their little ones, reading stories under a full moon. The badger family reads "tales of dragons, spitting flames," with an open page depicting a dragon in hot pursuit of a sword-wielding badger hero. Pirate and princess stories delight the owl and bunny families, and children will recognize a bunny toting a basket and wearing a red cape as Little Red Riding Hood in Eliza Brown's book. That is, before someone (or something) snatches her storybook right out from under her. Other critters' books disappear, too, and "Eliza Brown, at Number Three,/ was keen to solve the mystery."
When she does catch him, the Snatchabook is repentant: "Eliza sighed. He looked so sad./ If he just had a mom or dad/ to read him stories every night--/ well, then he might behave all right!" Eliza has a remedy for that, too, but first the Snatchabook must set things right. Children will revel in the message that bedtime reading is a ritual to be revered and will forgive the Snatchabook for his wish to share in it. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness