GIFT FROM A SHEEP

Jenny couldn't believe it. 'My own lamb? How would I care for her?'"" This when the neighbors' ewe rejects one new twin--and soon Jenny is introducing Lana to the bottle, learning to shear, card, and spin (with help), dyeing the yarn with walnuts and onion skin (""with that. . . you have to use a mordant. . .""), knitting herself a poncho (directions appended), and entering poncho, hand-dyed yarn, and (as an afterthought) Lana herself at the county fair. There, though Lana's grooming and behavior leave something to be desired (the judge encourages another try next year), the poncho and yarn win ribbons. It's not much as fiction, but it's more than a contrived summary of the process. Think of it as an older, more detailed and practical, but no less personable counterpart to de Paola's Charlie Needs a Cloak (1974).