Taking the words of the classic Christmas song by James Lord Pierpont as a text, the immensely talented expatriate Thai artist Niroot Puttapipat creates a gloriously beautiful holiday picture-book here. Each two-page spread features a phrase or two, paired with gorgeous black silhouette artwork depicting a couple in 19th-century garb out in a wintry world in order to obtain a Christmas tree. The illustrations are enlivened by the occasional colorful touch, primarily in green, red and yellow, while the final two-page spread features a marvelous pop-up scene in which a massive Christmas tree predominates, surrounded by the buildings, people and sleigh depicted on earlier pages.

After reading Puttapipat's recent picture-book retelling of The Nutcracker, and finding the illustrations simply breathtaking, I decided I had to track down more of this talented artist's work. I requested Jingle Bells: A Magical Cut-Paper Edition from the library, and greatly enjoyed poring over it, even though the holidays have already passed. The silhouettes here reminded me at times of Jan Pieńkowski's work, and at other times of Arthur Rackham's illustrations in this style, both of which comparisons are high praise indeed! Puttapipat's work is by turns stark and lush, with pages that are delicately cut at the top into the shapes of trees and buildings, giving the entire book a fairy-tale-like feeling. Recommended to anyone who is a fellow admirer of this artist's style, as well as to anyone looking for beautiful picture-book presentations of the Jungle Bells song. ( )