First published in England more than 50 years ago, Christmas Eve At the Mellops’ (Phaidon Press, 32 pp.) by beloved French children’s author Tomi Ungerer, retains all of its original charm in a new edition. The Mellopses are a cozy porcine family with four fine young piglet sons – Casmir, Isidor, Felix, and Ferdinand. When the boys, excited by the idea of Christmas, each bring home a tree, the family finds it has four Christmas trees too many. Mr. Mellops encourages his boys to find other pigs who need the trees more than they do, and in the process the four earnest piglets learn something priceless about the true meaning of the holiday.
