Holiday characters ranging from the Easter Bunny to the April Fool try to take over Christmas responsibilities so that stressed Saint Nick can take a vacation. The comedic team that last explained How Murray Saved Christmas -- Simpsons writer Mike Reiss and editorial illustrator David Catrow--returns for another comical yuletide rhyme. At first glance, their book threatens to be too wacky for its own good, but Reiss quickly saves the tale with fun rhymes and abundant cleverness. Santa Claus suffers from recurring nightmares about getting stuck in a lit chimney ("I smell something cooking. I'm not sure just what. Is it ham? Is it lamb? No, I think it's my butt!"), which clearly points to a case of Santa Claustrophobia. So Doc Holiday wisely prescribes (what else?) a holiday, arranging for St. Nick's Christmas duties to be handled by the April Fool, St. Patrick, the Tooth Fairy, et al. ("There were even a few who weren't so famous, like the Arbor Day Aardvark and Labor Day Amos.") But the well-meaning Doc soon finds that replacing the Big Guy isn't that easy: Cupid attaches long, time-consuming love notes to each present, Columbus on delivery-detail insists on sailing "east to go west, then west to go east," and the Easter Bunny has trouble gift-wrapping ("his paws were too small") so resorts to painting all the presents in pastels. Fortunately, a tanned, toned Santa Claus returns from Aruba just in time to save the day: "If chimneys are tight, I've got nothing to fear: I lost twenty pounds--nineteen from my rear!" Both kids and adults will enjoy the same humor Reiss showed in Murray , but some of the biggest laughs in the book undoubtedly belong to Catrow's details (including a genius Father Time from 1969, sporting a plastic pick sticking out of his huge gray afro). (Ages 4 to 8) --Paul Hughes Grade 2-5-Therapist Doc Holiday of the village of Stinky Cigars receives a new patient. Seems Santa has "Claustrophobia" because (as Doc says) "Chimneys are thinner and your thighs are thickening./All those cookies and milk/have gone straight to your rear-." The doc prescribes a stress-relief vacation while the other personified holiday celebs (The Groundhog, Cupid, Saint Pat, Uncle Sam, etc.) try unsuccessfully to pinch-hit. In the nick of time Santa returns ("I just had to show off my abs and my tan"). Zany cartoon illustrations and a wacky high-energy text will grab older kids (and grown-ups) ready for parody.-S. P. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. The best of the holiday buffoonery...clever enough for grown-ups and crazy enough for kids. -- San Francisco Chronicle David Catrow is the illustrator of many picture books including Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon and its sequel Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon, written by Patty Lovell; I Wanna Iguana and its two companion books I Wanna New Room and I Wanna Go Home, written by Karen Kaufman Orloff; Our Tree Named Steve by Alan Zweibel; The Middle Child Blues by Kristyn Crow; and We the Kids: the Preamble to the Constitution. He lives in Ohio with his wife, Deborah.