SANTA TAKES A TUMBLE Gilles Tibo Translated by Sheila Fischman Toronto, Doubleday Canada, 1991. 24pp, paper, $8.00 ISBN 0-385-25329-X. Available in French as Deringolade du pere noel. CIP Kindergarten to Grade 2/Ages 5 to 7 Reviewed by Linda Holeman Volume 20 Number 3 1992 May This Christmas story sports a modern-day Santa Claus, complete with mechanical reindeer. He attempts to deliver his presents to a brand new city of unfamiliar skyscrap­ers, but his automatic antlered team lets him down. He is dropped into the strange city, where life is filled with danger, disappoint­ment, and fake Santas. His encounters with street people, policemen, delivery vans and doctors are less than pleasant, and poor Santa, while waiting for a back-up team flown by his elves, takes a job as a handy­man. I found this ending a little unsatisfactory, as Santa stays in the big bad city, continuing to make toys in a little workshop that he rents with money from his odd jobs. Somehow the warm Christmas feeling was missing for me in this story. Humanizing the "jolly old elf" caused a little of his magic to be lost, but perhaps for children of the 90s this realism will appear natural! Tibo's illustrations, as always, are delightful. The dreamy water-colour shades soften even the harshest expressions and situations, and young children will find each page covered with tantalizing detail. Linda Holeman, Winnipeg, Man.