Scooby-Doo! Scooby's scary Christmas! Scooby's scary Christmas! /

Gr 1--3--On Christmas Eve, Scooby and the gang are traveling to Daphne's uncle's house when they realize the bridge is out, forcing them to stop at a nearby inn. They encounter a snow monster who has been terrorizing the town for quite some time, destroying the chimneys of local houses. As one might predict with a Scooby-Doo mystery, the monster turns out to be a disguise for a villain up to no good. The gang foils the villain's plans in time for everyone to enjoy a Merry Christmas. Full-color illustrations are laid out in comic-book style; the opening page introduces how to read a comic book. Simple text includes one or two blocks of narrative per page and one or two speech bubbles per page, making the story accessible to emerging readers. The illustrations of the familiar cartoon characters add clarity to the plot and provide familiarity for those who are already fans of Scooby-Doo. Some of the elements of the cartoon series don't quite translate to the early reader format. For example, Shaggy's manner of speech with frequent additions of "like" may be unclear to young readers. However, exclamations like "Zoinks!" and "Jeepers!" are highlighted in the graphics effectively, so they remain part of the character of the series without young readers necessarily having to pronounce them. VERDICT A fun holiday offering for early reader collections.--Kelly Jahng