Degrees of Affection

White Christmas is one of my favorite seasonal songs as well as one of my favorite Irving Berlin numbers. So when I learned that one of my favorite illustrators had created a children's book based on the song, I knew it had to be winner.

Turns out even Hague and I can miss each other in our presentation and expectations.

I'm going to assume everyone knows the lyrics, if not they are easily found online. Basically, the singer is in LA and in "dreaming of a White Christmas." My favorite illustration was a close up of the female MC staring into a snow globe. From there they got...interesting.

Hague is well known for his fantasy, fairy, and other worldly images that are drawn so life-like but this song has never conjured up creepy, animated ice creatures (I refuse to call them snow-people - that implies they're cute looking), winged children (fairies with butterfly wings), and a seriously creepy goat! At least not to me. Nostalgia or even Santa and elves I could see but not scary Winter Warlocks.

Now to be fair, a few of the winged children were quite cute and the snow scenery and polar bears held Hague's usual meticulous beauty. I want to like this book but sadly, I can't. This is one Hague book I won't be adding to my shelves.