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POOR GABRIELLA: A Christmas Story by Victoria Forrester Kirkus Star

POOR GABRIELLA: A Christmas Story

By

Pub Date: Oct. 1st, 1986
Publisher: Atheneum

A gentle Christmas story of forgiveness at Bethlehem's manger, in a beautifully illustrated and produced work. Gabriella is an elderly white cow who arrives late, after the stable door is locked with all the other animals inside. Complacent goats and sheep bemoan her exclusion; but the Child weeps, the wind blows--and the Mother understands and opens the door. The simple, poetic text has been written in an italic hand by John Prestianni. Boulet's soft illustrations are full of reverence and mystery. The dark-eyed, idealized animals have a warm solidity; the deep night sky and luminous straw sparkle with evanescent images of stars, roses, doves, angels. The only visual defect is that the text is sometimes placed so near the page's edge that it seems cropped. A welcome addition for the Christmas season.