@ LITERATURE rying to decide which books are naughty ornice gets harder and harder every Christmas. So this year I decided to consult the North Pole’s recognized ex- perton matters literary, that reindeer about (and over) town, Rudolph the Red- nosed Reviewer. Books West By MIKE STEELE It was hardly surprising that Rudolph was all aglow over Ap- plewood Books’ release of the Robert L. May yarn that brought the quintessential quadruped himself to life. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Rein- deer is, as the publishers proud- ly announce, “An authentic reproduction of the original” prepared for Montgomery Ward 51 years ago. Utilizing the same illustra- tions, design and type face as the 1939 version, Rudolph The Red- Nosed Reindeer (Ap- plewood/Thomas Allen & Son; 30 pp.; $13.95, hardcover) was available in the U.S. in 1989 for its 50th anniversary but only in- troduced here this year. Two other favorites from Christmases past also received two hooves up: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and The Night Before Christmas by Cle- ment Clarke Moore. Interestingly enough where the former is concerned, there are two new editions worthy of note, although neither is com- pletely true to Dickens’ story as first published in 1843. The lengthier of the two is Scott Cook’s A Christmas Carol (Random House; 60 pp.; $19.95, hardcover) a moderately abridged interpretation beauti- fully illustrated with full-color images strongly reminiscent of 19th century English scenes. Mercer Mayer has taken an entirely different approach with his adaptation of A Christmas Carol (Collier Macmillan; 38 pp.; $22.50, hardcover), replac- ing the human characters with a thoroughly charming (and delightfully rendered) clan of mice. As you've probably guessed by the length of the two texts, Mercer’s title shows the greatest departure from the source, but its relative brevity and micecapades should be ideal fare for younger children. “Twas the night before Christmas . . .” is quite possibly the best-known opening line in English literature and indeed is often employed as the title of this Yuletide poem by Moore. But here's an interesting bit of arcane information for trivia buffs: even the current title, The Night Before Christmas, is in- correct. When Moore penned these immortal words in 1823, he called his work A Visit From St. Nicholas. Wendy Watson’s variation on The Night Before Christmas (Clarion/Thomas Allen & Son; 27 pp.; $20.95, hardcover) is ex- pressively simple, colorful and otherwise faithful to the Moore classic. Do you know ail of the gifts sent on The 12 Days of Christmas? No? Well, an easy way to rectify that is with this inexpensive stocking stuffer by Hilary Knight. The Twelve Days of Christmas (Alladin/Collier Macmillan; 27 pp.; $6.95, softcover) are celebrated in this case by Ben- jamin and Bedelia, a pair of amorous bears with a herd of winsome wildlife. In addition to the tried-and- true, there are always new Christmas-theme books to be considered. While Rudolph is a trifle conservative in his views (‘There’s no Yule like an Olde Photography by Neil Harrison Boudoir Photography offers special techniques for capturing and enhancing @ woman's perception of herself, achieved during the unique photographic session which produces a lasting potrait of your individual feminine beauty. Photographer Neil Harrison invites you to enjoy the luxury of having a professional artist apply your make-up and style your hair. THEN: Turn your fantasies into reality, THE IDEAL GIFT FOR THAT SPECIAL SOMEONE, OR FOR YOURSELF! CALL (604) 386-5032 aS you are potrayed and photographed in a most professional atmosphere. NEW YEARS PARE Y Yule” is his motto), here are three titles he wouldn’t mind finding under his tree Christmas morning. The Little Crooked Christmas Tree (North Winds Press; 19 pp.; $24.95, hardcover) by Michael Cutting and Ron Broda is one of the few marriages of book and audio cassette that works wonderfully. Cutting’s story of a lopsided Christmas tree that doesn’t know the meaning of Christmas is accompanied by Broda’s strik- ing artwork (each image is com- posed of brilliantly colored paper sculptures that, even reproduced in flat page form, ap- pear three-dimensional). And Christopher Plummer, narrator of the audio cassette which ac- companies The Little Crooked Christmas Tree, has the kind of voice that is perfectly suited for the task of recounting this ar- boreal adventure. Denys Cazet’s Christmas Moon (Collier Macmillan; 27 pp.; $17.95, hardcover) captures the magical excitement of Christmas with the tale of a young bunny named Patrick. Although rather brief (most rabbit tales are short, for that matter), Christmas Moon is a GROUND POUNDER ° AY PERCUSSION MODEL R270 THE R270... WORKING, EASIEST HAN- #§ DUNG RAMMERIN ITS CLASS. The Model R270 with two engine options, is built in the M-B-W tradition: to give high perform- ance, low maintenance percus- sion ramming of granular and cohesive soils in confined areas. Rudolph’s favorite Christmas books pleasing little story that may help children and parents deal with celebration of the festive season in the absence ofa parent or grandparent. Is there a child anywhere (or an adult for that matter) who can resist those nifty books with press-out-and-assemble pages? Of course not. That's why Here Comes Santa (Scholastic) is guaranteed to be the one gift that no one will want to return. Rudolph was very impressed with Here Comes Santa, point- ing out (a confusing thing con- sidering just how many points a reindeer has) that Helene Ap- pell-Mertiny’s book is far longer than most (36 pages of full-color cut outs in fact) and a bargain at $7.95. Here Comes Santa comes com- plete with Christmas tree, several Santa variations, rein- deer, sleigh, wreath, living room, chimney and even a large selec- tion of tags for addressing all those presents that arrive by Polar Post. One last book that Rudolph thought to mention before his northward flight home wasn’t about Christmas at all but, be- cause he’s a magnanimous sort of holiday herbivore, he decided to include anyway. P. Bear’s New Year's Party (Sil- vio Mattacchione & Co/Firefly; 30 pp.; $4.95), a counting book by Paul Lewis, is an instruction- al title featuring P. Bear and his New Year’s guests. As each hour strikes, begin- ning at one o'clock in the after- noon and continuing to minutes before the stroke of midnight (P Bear's obviously a party animal) the host’s invitees arrive. There’s a whale at one, five skunks at five, several snow leopards at seven and so on — sort of a menagerie-a-beaucoup. Still, it’s all great fun and, ac- cording to Rudolph, beat out the counting competition by — what else? — a nose. Coming Up: Next week we'll be looking at pop-up titles, how-to Christmas books for the whole family and more. MODEL AP2000 SOIL =, VIBRATORY , __ PLATE \COMPACTOR