If you read Red is Best to your three-year-old on your Christmas holiday, you should be prepared to do the following:

1. re-read the book twenty-five more times, immediately, consecutively, and enthusiastically;

2. have red clothes laundered and ready to be worn for the next several days;

3. attempt to explain why anyone’s mother would even bother to suggest brown mittens;

4. hear repeatedly, for days, “my mother doesn’t understand about red”; and,

5. unpack the suitcase in which you packed Red is Best for your morning departure, because book must be read again, immediately. See point number one, above.