The First Christmas Sweater (and the Sheep Who Changed Everything)

July 15, 2019
An Irish sheep called Hillary plays a pivotal role in establishing a sartorial Christmas tradition. Hillary is just a regular sheep...except for one thing: She has multicolored fleece! While the rest of the flock are content on the farm, Hillary dreams of life beyond Farmer Jimmy's field. This life of pastoral idleness is turned upside down when Santa arrives, looking for the best wool for the "first-ever Christmas sweater." Initially, he's not impressed by all the plain white fleece, but then Farmer Jimmy introduces Santa (who looks like a cross between Jerry Garcia and a lumberjack) to Hillary, and the rest is history. Judge's thick-lined black-and-white sketches add visual irony: Santa's naughty list includes "Donald Lump" and "Pears Morgen," and Mrs. Claus wears a tool belt and high-top sneakers. Varied facial expressions and shapely sheep hairdos distinguish Hillary's ovine brethren and sistren from one another. Sheep puns galore liven up the text, from chapter titles such as "Ewe Wish!" to Hillary's favorite action movie, Dye Hard, and rock band, the Bleatles. The conversational narration is peppered with sheep facts. Backmatter includes guffaw-inducing sheep jokes and a brief history of the real Christmas sweater. The illustrations present all characters, human and sheep--except Hillary, of course--as white. A punny holiday-themed romp for any time of year. (Animal fantasy. 8-12)

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October 7, 2019
Irish media personality and author of Patrick and the President, Tubridy offers a whimsical, wordplay-loaded tale set on a sheep farm in Ireland. The woolly residents all have their individual personality quirks, but by far the most colorful sheep is Hillary, who has a multihued fleece, is a chronic daydreamer and list-maker, and loves all things Christmas. The buck-toothed ewe is thrilled when she hears that Santa is searching for a fleece to make “the most perfect woolly sweater in the world”—and her heart “skipped a bleat” when he appears on her farm. Hillary’s rainbow fleece catches his attention, and he whisks her away to the North Pole to be sheared before dropping her back home on Christmas Eve—wearing “the very first, most beautiful, colorful, and cuddly Christmas sweater.” Featuring Judge’s appropriately silly illustrations and including jokes and a brief note on the Christmas sweater’s Scandinavian origins, this lighthearted yarn will especially tickle the funny bone of pun lovers. Ages 7–10.