This book is full of wonderful illustrations with a lovely grayscale with just hints of red here and there. Our main character keeps hearing strange sounds. Jingle jingle jingle. They go outside, find a silver bell collar, its owner, and have a magical ride. This book was so simple but so lovely. A great read for the holidays. ( )

A sweet story about a kid who meets a reindeer. Kind of refracts or defers the Santa mystique and I could imagine it still being found magical by kids at the Santa skeptic age, like that movie Prancer. (Though I gotta say, I'm in this "progressive dads" group and everybody, me included, is trying to do this "isn't the Santa story a nice story at Christmas," "some people believe it and some don't" kind of wishy-washy don't lie to your kid but keep the magic alive thing, so who knows what that means. At present, my kid, despite my very careful and subtle efforts, thinks he's real, but I still hope I'm preparing the ground for a clean transition with no lingering sense of betrayal later on.) ( )

Awakened Christmas Eve night by the jingling of bells, a little girl named Ollie sets out on her sleigh to explore the wintry world around her, and to find the source of the noise. She discovers a silver collar with bells in the wood, and, returning it to its reindeer owner, is taken on a magical nighttime flight. Eventually Ollie and her new friend must part, however, as the reindeer has other business that night...

With subtle but charming artwork - grey and white tones predominate, although there are accents of pink and red that stand out - clever use of cut-outs on certain pages, and a gentle, appealing tale of a girl at Christmas, The Little Reindeer is a lovely new holiday picture-book. British author/artist Nicola Killen has apparently created a number of other titles, but this is the first I have seen of her work. I wasn't sure at first that the more muted color palette would work for me - somehow, it didn't feel "Christmasy" enough at first - but in the end I found this a very appealing holiday tale. Recommended to anyone looking for new Christmas picture-books, especially those featuring reindeer, and children on Christmas Eve. ( )