Candy Cane Lane

K-Gr 2—Too poor to afford the expensive lawn ornaments, a little girl who lives in the only undecorated house on Candy Cane Lane wishes for just one tchotchke to help celebrate the season. Her wish seems to be granted when a blizzard blows a scuffed and battered plastic choirboy her way, but when her well-meaning father throws him in the trash, what follows is a homage to the Rankin/Bass production of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and his journey to the Island of Misfit Toys. In the dump, the choirboy comes to life, meets other abandoned lawn figures, and begins a journey back to the little girl, making friends with other rejected holiday ornaments and giant mascots along the way. This is a quirky Christmas story to be sure, and it's nice to see a tale that centers on a family dealing with financial struggle during the holiday season but doesn't revolve around gift giving. Retro, cartoony, and digitally enhanced illustrations complement the narrative, but the characters and foreground elements sometimes feel stylistically inconsistent between spreads.