Dino is almost ten years old. Many years of working in the family pottery shop have shriveled his grandfather like an old pea with a knitted cap upon his bald head, and made his Papa’s back stooped. 

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and Dino must go down to the village with his Papa to sell their pottery.

Dino has often heard people say that his Papa is the finest pottery painter in all of Italy. But times are hard. Papa and Dino will carry their pottery down to the village on their backs because their beautiful old donkey has died, and they don’t have enough money to buy another one. 

One of Dino’s fondest wishes is to have enough money to buy all four legs of their neighbor’s donkey. Each time they earn enough money to buy one or two legs of the donkey, something happens and they have to spend the money on food for the family or medicine for the grandfather. 

Another wish is to have a rocket to shoot off at midnight on Christmas Eve like all the other boys. Dino’s mother would like for him to have shoes to wear when he carries a candle in the Christmas Eve procession, and his father would like to be able to buy meat for their Christmas dinner. 

By the time Dino and his Papa get down to the village, the weather is so bad that the streets are practically deserted, and no one is interested in buying pottery. 

After Dino and Papa eat their lunch, Papa sends Dino back home as he has promised Mama he would. He says to Dino, “Go along home and take care of the pots. Someday we may sell them.”

With this admonition, the reader can gather that something is bound to happen to the pots. And it does. Dejected and ashamed, Dino begins to climb the hill toward home. On the way, Dino is presented with an opportunity to do a service for a stranger. His reward makes this Christmas Eve memorable for Dino, Papa, Mama, and Grandfather and changes the family’s fortunes.

This is an endearing story made truly lovely by the illustrations. It is possible not to notice at first that many of them are little more than rough sketches. But they are extremely expressive sketches that convey a sense of place that draws you right into a little 1950s Italian village and lets you walk around in it with Dino and his father. 

You can see all the illustrations when you buy this book from Purple House Press.