THE LITTLE REINDEER

This bittersweet love story from Foreman (After the War Was Over, 1996, etc.) starts on a wintry night in the far north. A young reindeer is drawn to a compound of sheds blazing with light. It's Santa's workshop, it's Christmas eve, it's hectic, and in the confusion the little reindeer is wrapped up and stuffed as a package into Santa's sack. That package spills out and lands on a city rooftop where it is found and unwrapped by an African-American boy: ``Wow! What a present!'' He squirrels the reindeer away in a pigeon coop, feeds him cereal and peanut butter sandwiches, and gets to know the animal over the next year as the city moves through the seasons. One day the reindeer takes a tentative leap from the roof, and is soon giving the boy skyrides; the reindeer's future doesn't include life in a pigeon coop. On Christmas Eve, the boy gives the reindeer a hug, a kiss, and a peanut butter sandwich for the road. This gentle tribute to the pleasures of good company has a quiet energy that grows page by page; the farewell packs an emotional wallop. Foreman's watercolors are two-page splendors, with captivating, diverse perspectives on the city and the snowy north. (Picture book. 4-8)