Ten-year-old Erin and her science project partner Tiffany become lost during a snowstorm while searching the Sierra forest for Erin's missing baby sitter. The two girls prove their resourcefulness, discover stronger senses of themselves (Tiffany goes back to using her original Vietnamese name, Hoa), and find the baby sitter in the process in this well-written but not very suspenseful adventure story.

K-Gr 3--This story set during the Great Depression is short on originality but long on sentimentality. When the tree adorned with mittens and treats for the children are stolen from the church before the Christmas Eve service, the holiday is almost ruined. The service goes ahead anyway, with the young narrator's parents being cast as Mary and Joseph in the manger scene. The pastor brings in live animals for the pageant, but when the mule refuses to budge, the child gets the idea to use Star, the family's horse, instead. When she and her friend go outside to fetch the animal, they see "a man in a cap and coat and big black boots" (clearly depicted as Santa in the illustration) putting a sack in Star's sleigh. It contains mittens, candy, and fruit. Although the girls believe it is magic, the scene is not effective enough to be convincing. The whole idea is so glibly stated, in fact, that it will take a great leap of faith to accept the resolution. Himler's glowing paintings contrast the warm, golden interiors of the church and stable with the cold blue exteriors of the countryside and aptly reinforce the sense of place. They are the high point of this less-than-stellar effort.