Toot & Puddle: I’ll Be Home for Christmas
Leslie Granier
Toot & Puddle: I’ll Be Home for Christmas
Holly Hobbie
Little, Brown Young Readers
c/o Hachette Book Group USA
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
ISBN 9780316366236, $15.95, 2001, www.hbgusa.com 1-800-759-0190
Toot and Puddle are two pigs who are very good friends. Toot left to attend his Great-Great-Aunt’s birthday party, but he promised he would return before Christmas Eve and asked Puddle not to decorate the Christmas tree without him. A terrible storm delays Toot’s return trip and Puddle worries that Toot will miss Christmas. While Toot does everything possible to get back home, Puddle is shown getting ready for Christmas by doing such things as writing Christmas cards and cutting down the tree. When it appears Toot will not make it back in time, he remembers a lucky nut his aunt gave him and he wishes that he was home. Suddenly, a surprise visitor arrives and gives him a sleigh ride home, just in time for Christmas.
Nicholas liked the story and was happy that Toot made it back in time to spend Christmas with his friend. As the story kept switching between Toot’s adventure and Puddle’s activities, he found it confusing to follow because both pigs looked alike. He thought the pigs should “look different from each other” by either “size or color or something.” He also could not understand how the pigs did not realize the one who brought Toot home was Santa Claus because even he could figure that out. Finally, he wants to know where he can get a lucky nut so he can make a “really cool wish.”
From an adult point of view, I thought it was a nice story that focuses on togetherness and tradition instead of material things. It provides hope that the seemingly impossible can occur if we actively seek to find a solution to difficulties in our lives. “Toot & Puddle: I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is a good example of the magic of the Christmas season.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Midwest Book Review
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
