THE MIGHTY BLUE SAVES CHRISTMAS
by M. A. Baer illustrated by Marita Gentry
An elderly Alaskan man meets a beautiful kitten who’s also Santa Claus’ friend in this picture book.
On a quiet, snowy December day, the narrator, a white-haired old man, opens his front door to find a white kitten waiting. How did it get to the isolated Alaskan cabin? Is it a Christmas present? The new arrival struts in, makes itself at home, and takes a nap. The blue-eyed kitten “had come out of the blue on a blue-gray day, so I named him Blue,” says the narrator. The two become fast friends, playing and cuddling together. The man takes Blue to an annual sled-dog race, but his dogs don’t show up. Impossibly, Blue begins pulling the sled faster than any canine could. Eskimo children are amazed by the kitten. Then an encounter with Santa reveals that Blue belongs to him and that he needs the feline to help deliver presents. In this book, Baer (Clueless in Cajun Country, 2017) offers a sweet story of friendship and love with a Christmas theme that also honors a cat’s personality; for example, only Blue gets to decide which white-haired old man he’ll stay with. Illustrator Gentry (The Cajun Cornbread Boy and the Buttermilk Biscuit Girl, 2017, etc.) nicely captures the characters’ warmth and appeal in watercolors throughout.
A pleasant Christmas fable.