PIPPA AND PELLE IN THE WINTER SNOW

Pippa and Pelle have fun on a winter day while also encountering some of the animals in their neighborhood.

In this gentle story translated from the German, Pippa and Pelle wake up to find everything is covered in snow. When they go outside, they find they can make snowballs, ride a sled (here called by the British word “sledge”), make a snowman, or use their skis. They also: meet a wise owl that informs them, “My soft feathers keep me nice and warm”; share their chestnuts with a deer; lose their snowman’s carrot nose to a hare; and encounter a mouse digging in the snow down to a warm burrow underneath. The charming, double-page-spread watercolor illustrations have an old-fashioned feel. It is a little hard to decide whether Pippa and Pelle are children or small elves, as the perspective shifts. They are the same size as the deer, smaller than the hare, and about the same size as the mouse. The real question, though, is, do we need yet another light and sweet story about two rosy-cheeked white children (or elves) playing in the snow?

Those with extra money in their budgets should go ahead and buy it. Otherwise, skip.