One spring day, Little Baa runs in the field. Soon he leaves his friends far behind - and his Ma too. But Little Baa's Ma misses him and searches for him. Will she ever find her Little Baa?
PreS-Gr 1-A young lamb bounces and skips along with his friends. After a brief romp in the field, he settles down for a nap and becomes separated from the rest of the flock. When his mother discovers him missing, she begins to panic. The shepherd notices the ewe's distress and sends his Border collie Floss (introduced to readers in Lewis's earlier books) to help with the search. Meanwhile, Little Baa wakes up and is frightened. Then, "From far across the field,/Ma picked out the little sound./It was the sound she wanted most of all/in the whole, wide, new spring world." The muted, soft, colored-pencil artwork is warm and appealing. The large type calls out to its audience, seemingly encouraging youngsters to try reading this story on their own. They will find its happy ending quite satisfying.
Little Baa is dancing through the fields as his Ma eats quietly nearby. When she looks up, Baa is gone. The other lambs, with whom Baa has been romping, soon return to their mothers, but Baa has disappeared. Ma wanders through the English countryside, tired, hungry, calling to her lamb. When the young shepherd and his collie, Floss, see Ma, they think perhaps they can help, and sure enough, Floss finds Baa waking up, as tired and hungry as his mother. The reunion of mother and baby is quite touching, and young listeners, first caught up in the animals' drama, will naturally understand that the story is also about love between themselves and their own mothers. This British import is tender and lovely, a nice mix of animal behavior and human emotion. The colored-pencil art has a pointillism effect, giving scenes that are precisely rendered a dreamy quality. A book for sharing that's as soft and sweet as a spring day.
