BABOUSHKA

Everyone in the village is talking about the bright star in the night sky, but Baboushka is too busy cleaning her home to be bothered with the speculations—at least until a trio of strangers arrive at her doorstep with news of a miracle. The three kings ask Baboushka for a place to stay and she offers them a warm bed and a sumptuous feast. In return they tell her of the newborn king whom they hope to find by following the star. They invite her to come along, but she makes excuses saying that there is too much work to be done. After they depart, she reconsiders and begins to clean the toys left by the death of her son so that she might offer them as a gift to the new baby. She sets out to follow them, only to discover that she’s too late. And so it is that Baboushka travels the world looking for that child and leaving a gift wherever she finds one. Wonderful patterns in a myriad of colors evoke the feeling of Russian folk art in rich watercolor-and-collage illustrations that add a softly textured beauty to this uncommon retelling of the Christmas story and the practice of giving gifts. (Picture book. 4-7)