Jeoffry's Christmas - Hardcover

Mary Bryant Bailey is a poet who lives on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. This is her first book.

Elizabeth Sayles is a veteran illustrator of children's books, most recently of Morning Song by Mary McKenna Siddals. She lives in Valley Cottage, New York.

Kindergarten-Grade 3-A cat goes into the forest with the farmer and his dog to choose a Christmas tree. Sidetracked by a gang of crows, Jeoffry gets lost, but is eventually rescued by Santa himself, who decides that the feline should help him distribute a feast to the wild animals. Jeoffry is not a typical cat. He greets the dove "with fond meows," and tries to think of a way "to help a lost and hungry shrew," despite the fact that he is lost and hungry himself. The first-person rhyming verse is occasionally stilted and overlong. The spreads are attractive, with a palette that ranges from cool blues and whites while Jeoffry is in the forest and lost to warm oranges and pinks after he meets Santa. The cat is drawn with plenty of personality and an almost human expression. Enigmatically, Santa and the farmer look alike, which is potentially confusing. Loose ends, the unnatural choice of a feline to play Santa to his traditional prey, and text that scans awkwardly lessen the effectiveness of this tale.-M. A.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.