This is a very New Zealand Christmas book; we meet animals one by one as they each bring a gift - and both the animals and the gifts have a very Kiwi flavour. It's not just a cow - it's a jersey cow, there's a collie dog, and bantam hens. They bring pavlova, gumboots, a football, jandals, a kiwi on wheels, pohutukawa flowers and a dripping hokey pokey ice-cream is carried by a kune kune pig. And finally on the last page we see the mother and infant. 'Little baby Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Little baby Jesus by the stable door'.

Each page is simple in its content, the uncomplicated animals and their gifts outlined in black, produced with Gavin's trademark printmaking technique. Whilst the figures are simple the technique provides texture, and Gavin's talent with watercolour inks renders each page a glowing colour-washed delight, with spatters and stars that take the simple figures and create artworks of each spread. Each animal has a spread devoted to them, followed by the growing band of animals outside the cowshed door.

You could almost sing the text and children will want to join in on the the repetition, and love the story again and again even though we all know right from the start what the ending is going to be. A delightful, timeless and very New Zealand Christmas book to add to your collection, or start one for a child.