Bear's friends awaken him the day before Christmas and help him to stay awake as they bake fruitcakes, fill stockings, and sing carols; then, while they sleep, he prepares his own surprise.
Though it is winter in the forest, Bear can't sleep and his many animal friends are filled with suggestions to help him get to bed, from hot tea to lullabies.
After Little Pip the penguin gets lost she meets a whale, a kelp gull, and sled dogs who cannot help her, but with the aid of her family's song, home finds her.
The other animals at school make fun of Sweet Briar because she is a skunk and has a strong smell, until she uses her scent to chase away a hungry wolf.
"More than 120 hysterical, philosophical, rhetorical, and commonsensical poems and pictures that explore the perfectly not-so-perfect world of picky kids"--Jacket flap.