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

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. (Sept.)