I like the story well enough, but zoned out when Daddy Tim was reading it to me. Some of the sing-songy rhymes didn't fit...like the first lines:
"The sun was shining on the snow.
We crunch across the bent meadow."
Hmm...daddy says "that doesn't scan." Which is human for "it sounds funny."
I really like the pictures in the book though. After a while, I just ignored Daddy Tim and the words and looked at the pictures. They were made by Elizabeth Sayles. She draws good kitties--and lots of other animals. Jeoffrey has a hat on on the cover, but no where in the book does he wear clothes...that's good! I also liked seeing Santa and all the other animals. It was good to see all the animals being nice to each other...though if we're being honest, I think Jeoffrey probably would have wanted to eat the shrew rather than give him some lizards to eat.
So if you want a slightly weird tale with really good pictures of Santa and a handsome puss, this will satisfy you. I don't think I can recommend it more than that...Banjo would probably give it two treats (for the pictures), but I know treats are for eating!
Today's tip for Cat Children of Human People (CaCHuPs): Don't play with the inside tree! In the winter, your human will celebrate Santa's impending visit by bringing a tree into the house. It will smell really good. You will want to sit under it (robably OK). You will want to nibble it (not a good idea: it's poke-y). You will want to climb it (very bad idea). You will want to drink the water that it is sitting in (another bad idea; it will make you urpy). Then your human will put a bunch of toys in the branches and expect you to ignore the whole thing--sheesh, they are weird! As long as you are careful and you wait until they are out of the house, you can gently play with the toys in the tree...but if one falls off, make yourself scarce! And if one of the boxes under the tree smells like catnip--resist biting it! Santa will give you Christmas Catnip and it will be gooood!
Now since we had no pictures from the book to look at, here is a picture of a beautiful orange cat at Christmas time: