A SMALL SHEEP IN A PEAR TREE

by Adrianne Lobel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 26, 1977

Lobel's version of the twelve days of Christmas makes sheep of all the gifts, makes almost identical fluffy spheres of all the sheep, and piles them on as the days go by until the last page shows all 78 of them cavorting together. Her three French sheep, for example, dance on with berets, flags, and a long loaf of bread, and just as obvious are the nine sheep a-drumming, ten sheep a-piping, etc. But the ploy requires a little stretching elsewhere: the two turtle sheep have shell-like covers strapped to their backs, the four calling sheep are yoo-hooing and phoning, and the six sheep a-laying (ungrammatically here) are simply resting by the fire. The party grows livelier as the crowd assembles; still, on the first day of September the waggery seems about as thin as Lobel's washes--and her compositions, prim and childlike in their placement of very small figures on a bare ground.

Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1977

Categories: CHILDREN'S