This was a book about two children who were decorating their Christmas tree while simultaneously talking with each other about how they wished their grandma would make it home in time for Christmas. I really liked this book for a number of reasons. First of all, Grandma did make it home, and the children were not disappointed. I enjoyed the amount of troubles grandma needed to overcome to get back home though; she was out on a safari and she needed to chase down a monkey, elude crocodiles, force her way through hippos, ride an elephant, and then finally pilot a plane in order to get back home in time. Furthermore, I really enjoyed that this book stressed the important message of Christmas; that family is important. The children were desperately hoping their grandma came home in time, and the grandma was clearly willing to risk her life to get back there in time to be with her family (although she never appeared to be in any explicit danger during her more "dangerous interactions" because of the light hearted way the story was written.) The message of this book is about the value of family, and about how families are supposed to be together, especially during holidays like Christmas.

Reading Level K-4 ( )