Dumb Cluck at Christmas: Minerva Louise at Christmas by Janet Morgan Stoeke

The kids can't believe what they are seeing. "Wait! An evergreen is decorated with colored lights! Is it party time? On the roof?"

"Oh, look! They've invited goats!"

Minerva Louise, the family's devoted hen, is worried. And there's a strange farmer in a odd red hat up there with the goats with jingly harnesses.

But that farmer's wagon has lost all its wheels!

And even more strange, that big farmer is jumping down a well on the roof. Oh, my!

Minerva Louise, the family hen, aims to protect her people, so she follows the farmer in the hat down the well, and finds herself inside the house.

"Wait! That tree wasn't in here before! And that pretty hen is sitting up there to warm up."

As Minerva Louise inspects the tree, she notices a box under it with some round, colored things inside.

"Look! She's been laying the most beautiful eggs! And they're all over the branches!"

Minerva Louise may be a dumb cluck, but she does her best to guard her family from a mysterious midnight visitor. He finishes decorating the tree, unpacks presents from his pack, and even snacks on the goodies that Minerva is sure are there for the family's breakfast. She scolds the farmer in the red hat for sticking some stuff in her family's socks, too. But then, with a smile, he pulls out one more be-ribboned box and presents it to Minerva Louise herself.

Christmas comes as a surprise to Minerva Louise, in this funny hen's-eye view of Christmas Eve in a silly noodle tale just right for young celebrants. And when the family wakes up, they are greeted by their pet hen nesting in her very own gift box under the tree, in Janet Morgan Stoeke's Minerva Louise on Christmas Eve (Dutton Books for Young Readers). Kids love noodlehead stories, and Minerva Louise plays her jolly role with aplomb in this book from her own series of easy-reading holiday tales. Other seasonal stories about Minerva are Minerva Louise on Halloween and A Hat for Minerva Louise.