CUCKOOBUSH FARM

Round the year at yet another farm, with the usual series of blossoms, harvests and babies; this time the journey is distinguished by King-Smith's careful structure and nicely cadenced prose, and by the airy, stylized illustrations that Japanese-born Kazuko has done for her first book. There's a warm feeling, too, to little Hazel Meadows' reiterated "I do love babies," which turns out to be a good thing: the babies who arrive on Christmas Day are twins, a new brother and sister. But although that event provides a focus, it is only one of many beginnings in a year on this modern farm—King-Smith, who has been a farmer in England, provides authentic details that make a fine antidote to the storybook farms born of uninformed nostalgia. Satisfying.