MERRY CHRISTMAS, OLLIE!
by Olivier Dunrea and illustrated by Olivier Dunrea
Dunrea continues his successful series about a gaggle of goslings with this simple story for preschoolers about the anticipation that little ones experience before Christmas. The five goslings, each wearing a different hat, wait anxiously in snowy fields for the arrival of Father Christmas Goose. They hang up their stockings and boots in the barn and ask each other when Christmas might arrive. The smallest gosling, Ollie, has the most trouble waiting, stomping and shouting in his impatience. Ollie stubbornly waits outside in the snow by himself, and he is rewarded by seeing Father Christmas Goose. Dunrea deftly employs an understated simplicity in his spare text and in his delicate watercolor-and-ink illustrations of the gawky goslings. The latter are attractively presented in vignette format surrounded by white space that extends the wintry feeling. The choice of Father Christmas Goose as the Santa character is a clever play on words, but this concept may be confusing for some children, who may think the character is the father of the goslings rather than Santa. (Picture book. 2-5)