A family of four living on a snow-covered European mountainside has nothing but potatoes and beans to serve for Christmas dinner, so the father goes out hunting for something to add to their meal. He finds a young goat trapped in the branches of a thorn bush and takes her home inside his jacket. Instead of becoming Christmas dinner, the little goat is immediately adopted by the two children, a brother and sister with red hair. They name the goat Pashmina, and she quickly becomes a beloved pet. In the spring, Pashmina sheds her beautiful, soft, white hair in copious amounts, which the mother of the family makes into socks to sell at the market. This leads to more goats, more socks and a successful cottage industry for the women of the village who work together creating wool clothing. The oversized volume shows off the luminous illustrations with a double-page-spread format and high quality production values and design. Kehlenbeck paints in a dreamy, loose style that lends a timeless air to her appealing illustrations. Her goats are charming creatures with gentle expressions, especially little Pashmina. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-698-40046-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Minedition/Penguin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2006
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Turkey’s in the “kind of trouble where it’s almost Thanksgiving...and you’re the main course.” Accordingly, Turkey tries on disguise after disguise, from horse to cow to pig to sheep, at each iteration being told that he looks nothing like the animal he’s trying to mimic (which is quite true, as Harper’s quirky watercolors make crystal clear). He desperately squeezes a red rubber glove onto his head to pass as a rooster, only to overhear the farmer suggest a poultry plan B when he’s unable to turn up the turkey. Turkey’s horrified expression as he stands among the peppers and tomatoes—in November? Chalk it up to artistic license—is priceless, but his surroundings give him an idea. Good fun, but it may lead to a vegetarian table or two. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5529-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2009
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