Three Bags Full

After giving away all her wool to her friends, Millie, a generous sheep, finds herself shivering after a snowstorm, until Mrs. Farmer knits her a warm, wool sweater.

PreSchool-Grade 2-Millie, a kind but somewhat doltish sheep, allows her animal friends to help themselves to her wool, thus leaving herself quite bare-and cold-when winter's snows come. Her dilemma is resolved by an equally generous farmer's gift of a hand-knitted sweater. Scamell's text is easy enough for beginning readers, and the story itself has an appealing simplicity. Neat, efficient lines create wonderful facial expressions, from woebegone to wily. Millie's body language runs the gamut, from sheepishness, to contentment, to total oblivion as history repeats itself. Uncluttered backgrounds, mounds of color and lumpy figures, and rounded shapes exude a sense of coziness and a feeling that-in spite of the fact that Millie remains rather dense-all's right with the world. Not distinguished, but certainly funny enough to evoke some chortles as a story-hour extra.
Trev Jones, School Library Journal
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Millie the sheep is a soft touch--in every sense. When Bird, Badger and Rabbit ask for a bit of her comfortable, warm wool to insulate their homes, she responds so generously that she is soon bare as a goat. Then comes a snowfall, and Millie shivers. She can't climb up to Bird's nest nor squeeze into Badger's burrow, and Rabbit's warren is too crowded. Finally Mrs. Farmer provides a haven and knits Millie a beautiful sweater. But a strand of yarn dangles, catching the eye of opportunistic Bird, and the ending here spells deja vu all over again. Scamell's serene little comedy gets first-class treatment from first-time illustrator Hobson. Using clear color fields, she paints a primitive-style landscape, with the horizons curving playfully--it's almost like entering the world of a paperweight. Simple, strong lines evoke Millie and her friends, including the Breugel-like Mrs. Farmer, while spare but effective detail gives the characters particularly vivid expressions. Altogether winning. Ages 3-6.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.