The Christmas Barn

Photo-collaged illustrations help tell a Christmas story set on a farm. When a tree falls in the woods, Farmer John of Moonrise Farm decides to use it to “make a special Christmas gift for the animals.” He and his wife, Farmer Jennifer, “dr[a]w up the plans,” and then he starts working with the wood as dogs Laddie and Maisie, cat Mo, sheep Finn and Sweet Pea, and other animals look on. The sometimes-clumsily photo-collaged scenes show the seasons changing from fall to winter as Farmer John cuts the wood, makes measurements, hammers and uses other tools, and ultimately raises a new barn for the animals, just in time for the season’s first snowfall. A neighbor helps along the way, and the barn is painted a cheery red, which nicely offsets the evergreen boughs Farmer John uses to decorate it. Then, on Christmas Eve, another neighbor (who, like all of the other people, appears White) arrives with baskets of provender for the animals, a veritable Santa Claus delivering gifts. When alpaca Joy gives birth to a new cria that night, Farmer John names her Hope. Backmatter explains the true backstory behind the book, inspired by the creators’ life on a farm in Vermont. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 25% of actual size.) A homemade, homey Christmas story for animal lovers. (Picture book. 2-6)

Copyright 2020 Kirkus Reviews, LLC Used with permission

In this photographic picture book, the authors of the Sweet Pea & Friends series reveal how they transformed a 150-year-old tree felled by lightning into a barn as a Christmas gift for the animals on their Vermont farm. The heartwarming chronicle includes age-appropriate, often onomatopoeically rendered details, as the tree is chopped into logs and milled into boards ("Whir, whir, risp, rasp") that are used for the structure's frame, walls, roof, and doors. The indisputable stars of the book are the handsome animals themselves, each introduced by name and all clearly beloved family members--many will be familiar to readers of the Churchmans' other books. Seen in crisp, closely focused pictures, they watch over the construction with palpable friendliness and curiosity ("What can it be? What can it be?"). Perhaps most endearing are the stately alpacas, one of whom, aptly named Joy, gives birth after the animals are ushered into their new home just before Christmas. An affectionate, informative, and thoroughly moving holiday tale. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)