The Wee Christmas Cabin of Carn-na-ween

Ruth Sawyer, , illus. by Max Grafe. . Candlewick, $14.99 (40pp) ISBN 978-0-7636-2553-5

Readers will want topull up a creepie (stool) and gather 'round a roaring peat fire to hear every lilting word of Sawyer's magical and haunting Irish folktale, first published in 1941. Orphan girl Oona, abandoned by her tinker kin, grows into a lonely, ostracized old woman longing for a home of her own. On Christmas Eve, as the legend goes, the wee people to whom Oona has always been kind oblige her in a special way. Gauzy, evocative mixed-media paintings convey a quiet yet powerful energy. Ages 8-up. (Oct.)

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