PIPPIN THE CHRISTMAS PIG

A perky pink piglet starts the barnyard buzzing when she asks "What's Christmas?" in this clever and gentle-hearted picture book. Pippin's question gets the goat of Noddy the grumpy donkey, whose ancestors carried Mary to Bethlehem. A haughty game of can-you-top-that gets all the farm animals going, each taking credit for a role in the first Christmas and dismissing pigs altogether. But it's not until Pippin tries to run away that she finds the joyous meaning of the holiday. Zimmerman's watercolors pleasingly mix realism and adorability (in the case of Pippin's smile). Ages 4-8. (Oct.)