Horn Book Review
(Primary) Here is a Christmas fable with all the classic elements: the spirit of giving, an angel or two, an unexpected miracle, and a talking dog. (OK-maybe not the dog.) In the weeks before Christmas, Albert attempts to earn money to buy his mother a gold medallion like the one she lost as a child; by Christmas Eve his grand total is still only eighty-three cents and a foreign coin. When a kind policeman gives him a dollar instead of arresting him for playing his flute on the street, Albert and dachshund friend Lucille (whom only Albert can hear speak) set out shopping, but find they can only afford a cheap substitute for his mother's delicate medallion. After Albert loses even that in the snow on the way home, the angels step in to offer their miracle. Lucille's pithy comments and steadfast friendship give the familiar elements of the story a fresh lift, and Gerstein's full-page illustrations convey the easy balance of the magical and the everyday. His renderings of the bare trees, drifting leaves, and icy blue-and-white snow storms are just as effective as his portrayals of the snooty jeweler who tosses Albert and Lucille from his store and the round, jolly angel with the infinite and orderly warehouse of found property. Though the chatty canine is new, a requisite component of the old-fashioned Christmas tale remains: the happy ending in the warmth of home and family. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 4^-6, younger for reading aloud. Eight-year-old Albert wants to give his mother the best Christmas gift she's ever gotten: a replacement for her grandmother's long-lost gold medallion. With his talking dachshund Lucille, whom he alone can hear, he plays his flute on the holiday streets trying to earn money for the present. He collects a dollar and buys a trinket, which he loses on the way home. As he and Lucille search for the lost pendant late on Christmas Eve, they encounter an angelic boy, who magically transports them to a warehouse of found property where Albert retrieves the pendant from a Santa-like proprietor. The next morning, Albert's mother unwraps the box to find her original medallion, lost years ago, and the day ends in surprised happiness. Although the story's leisurely pace may be too slow for some children, the rich, descriptive text will appeal to intermediate readers, particularly those experiencing their own seasonal anxieties and desires to please. Most compelling, however, is the story's magic--the night adventure, the talking pet, the mysterious gift--all wonderfully realized in Gerstein's nostalgic, ink-and-paint artwork. --Gillian Engberg