The wonderful art of Sylvia Long brings visual Christmas joy to this traditional carol. This book will become a Christmas favorite of mine. ( )

The immensely talented Sylvia Long, whose gorgeous artwork can be seen in fairy-tale titles like Sylvia Long's Thumbelina and Sylvia Long's Mother Goose, as well as Dianna Hutts Aston's gorgeous natural-history picture-books (An Egg Is Quiet, A Seed Is Sleepy, etc.), turns her attention to the well known Christmas carol in this cute holiday book. Using the lyrics of Deck the Halls as her text, Long depicts a family of bunnies, as they prepare for and celebrate the holiday, donning their gay apparel, and trolling their yuletide carols.

As with many of the other Christmas carol picture-books I have been reading, this season, I listened to a recording of the song, done by the Deller Consort, while reading, and that greatly enhanced my experience! These aren't really stories, after all, but songs, so having the music to hand is a great bonus. The artwork here is cute - bunny-lovers will be in seventh heaven - despite not being a personal favorite, when it comes to my appreciation of Long's work. All in all, this is a solidly engaging presentation of this beloved Christmas carol, one I would recommend to those readers looking for such titles, or to fans of the artist. ( )

This beautiful little book should be a part of every child's Yuletide celebration. The text consists of the words to the Old Welsh traditional carol, "Deck the Hall" and as such comes equipped with plenty of merry holiday ambiance and the illustrations of Sylvia Long make the carol into a magical Yuletide treasure. A loving family of rabbits celebrates the season together with Mama, Papa and their little son hanging the yew garlands, the colored lights,and ornaments (including the special carrot ornament of course!) and getting all dressed up in their gay apparel for a worship service complete with carolling. They cuddle together before the blazing Yule fire, enjoy hot steaming mugs of hot cocoa and have fun cutting out cookies together. The little boy gets flour on the red flannel sleeves of his Dr. Dentons as he carefully works the star cookie cutter and Mama looks on encouragingly. The family strings popcorn, cranberries and nuts to trim the pine tree outdoors for the birds and tiny wreaths of suet and seeds are tied on with crimson ribbons. Bundled up in their soft warm jammies the family reads a Yuletide story before Mama and Papa tuck their little son into bed beneath a charming patchwork quilt. They stand snuggled together in the doorway, looking lovingly at their beautiful sleeping boy. Excitment abounds as the presents are opened in the morning and a fun-filled day of ice-skating, sledding and making snow angels begins. Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!
I really love this little jewel of a book. ( )