The venerable and prolific Carle (Hello, Red Fox, 1998, etc.) offers a quiet Christmas story with a little music at the end. A farmer lives alone on a small farm with so few animals that he calls them One, Two, Three, Four, and Five. Oh, he also has a tree named Tree. One night near Christmas he falls asleep in his favorite chair after his peppermint tea, and dreams that he is covered in a white blanket. On successive pages, One the horse, Two the Cow, Three the sheep, and so on are each covered in a snowflake blanket, accomplished by an acetate page of flakes and an amorphous shape that when turned reveals the animal. When the farmer awakes and finds it has snowed for real, he dresses himself warmly, decorates Tree, and strews gifts for all five animals under it. When he shouts “Merry Christmas to all!” he pushes a button that children can push, producing a lovely Yuletide tinkle. The pictures are in Carle’s trademark richly colored and textured collages that capture the snowy magic of Christmas. Adults may be charmed to see that Carle dedicates the book to Barry Moser, who modeled for the farmer, although from the photo on the back cover Carle and Moser could pass for brothers with their shiny pates and neat white beards. Cotton candy. (Picture book. 4-7)
