It wouldn't be a collection of Christmas stories without an adaptation of Charles Dickens' beloved "A Christmas Carol."

Call me a Scrooge, but I wish they'd given that story a pass this time around. Christmas Classics, volume 19 of the ongoing Graphic Classics series from Eureka, is weaker for having included it.

There's no great flaw here. The familiar tale, adapted by Alex Burrows and illustrated by Micah Farritor, is always a pleasure to see. However, the confines of the book require a heavy hand with the editor's pen, and this version has been stripped to its bones. Anyone who already knows the story by heart -- and, after all, who doesn't? -- should have little trouble filling in the gaps, but when the narrative is reduced to its barest threads and rushed through at a breakneck pace, what's the point of including it at all?

There are other, less familiar stories that could have filled the space more comfortably, as the rest of this collection shows.

The book begins with an especially delightful satiric letter from Santa Claus, a.k.a. Mark Twain, to Twain's daughter. Clement C. Moore's classic "A Visit from St. Nicholas" is illustrated in comical fashion by Florence Cestac.

Rich Rainey adapts Arthur Conan Doyle's Christmas mystery, "The Blue Carbuncle," with Hunt Emerson providing the caricature art for Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and the late, lamented Christmas ghost. Cynthia Martin heads west for a cowboy Christmas with O. Henry and "A Chaparral Christmas Gift."

One of the stranger tales is Willa Cather's "The Strategy of the Werewolf Dog," and Evert Geradts presents the sinister canine, hapless reindeer and devoted White Bear in whimsical fashion despite the darkness of the tale. F. Scott Fitzgerald's "A Luckless Santa Claus," illustrated by Simon Gane, shows just how hard to can be to give money away, even on Christmas, and Fitz-James O'Brien's evil-minded "The Wondersmith," illustrated by Rick Geary, averts a vile plan for Christmas mayhem at the hands of diabolical toys.

All in all, it's a fine addition to my Christmas library. Tom Pomplun, who steers the Graphic Classics ship and adapted several of the stories included here, keeps producing winners.