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Crispy Critter's Christmas Tree: A Maine Pony Finds the Perfect Tree

by Sarah Robinson

38 pages; Saddle stitched; full colour children's book; catalogue #07-1070; ISBN 1-4251-2990-0; US$19.00, C$21.85, EUR14.81, £9.82

An aged Shetland pony helps an eight-year-old girl locate the perfect Christmas tree for her Maine family.

About the Book

Once upon a very white December, an 8-year old girl named Madelon sought to find the perfect Christmas tree for her family. She enlisted the aid of a wise old Shetland pony, Crispy Critter. Loveable Crispy carried Madelon on her quest through deep powdery snows in the company of her mother, father, baby brother and pet Border Collie, Chattanooga. Crispy proved to be more than just convenient transportation... ending up the undisputed hero of home and barnyard for having led the family to a perfect tree. The story is illustrated by abundant scenes photographed on the actual farm location and starring real members of the author's close-knit Maine family.

About the Author

Sarah Sturtevant - (pen name, Sarah Robinson) - has a degree in merchandising from Endicott College in her native New England and a BA degree in Art/History from Colorado's Denver University. Although the author has lived and worked in Denver for the past three decades, she continues to maintain close ties with the State of Maine, where her parents, siblings, nieces and nephews live on a farm in the little town of Fayette. Home-Nest Farm is the ancestral homestead to nine generations of her Sturtevant family. Through annual vacations at Home-Nest, Sarah developed a keen interest in whimsical shenanigans of a playful old Shetland pony named Crispy Critter, patriarchal head of a menagerie of animals - dogs, cats, hens, horses, sheep, donkey and llama. Crispy quite naturally fell into the lead role in a fanciful story about an 8-year-old girl's search for the perfect Christmas tree -- a search undertaken one snowy Christmas season. It is Crispy who becomes the hero of the tale, as he discovers the most perfect of all trees! Producing the story became a pleasurable undertaking involving a number of family members: it is profusely illustrated by photographs taken on location by the author's parents, Arnold and Leda Sturtevant; 8-year old Madelon is played by Sarah's niece; father Josiah is played by her nephew; mother Helen is played by her sister; Madelon's younger brother Matthew is played by a cousin (albeit several times removed!); the family dog is played by Madelon's very own pet Border Collie, Chattanooga; and, of course, Crispy is actually played by the real Crispy.