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IN THE SNOW by Elizabeth Spurr Kirkus Star

IN THE SNOW

by Elizabeth Spurr ; illustrated by Manelle Oliphant

Pub Date: Oct. 1st, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-56145-855-4
Publisher: Peachtree

A fresh snowfall is cause for jubilation in this lovely and winning celebration of the magic of winter.

Simple, evocative text and gorgeous artwork capture the delight of a young, black girl upon waking to a thick cover of freshly fallen snow in this beautifully designed board book. Together with her mother and her dog, she puts in a full day of winter play: gliding across frozen puddles, drawing in the snow, building a snowman, sledding, and, of course, making snow angels. Oliphant’s illustrations are primarily two-page scenes, occasionally broken up into separate, sequential panels, with the text flowing beneath, one line of a rhymed couplet per page. “Clouds glide over hills. / Snow falls. All is still. // Open window. Shout, ‘Hooray!’ / Dash outside. Time to play!” The accompanying illustrations convey the silent stillness of a pre-dawn snowfall as well as the eager excitement of the girl and her canine companion at their first glimpse of snow and as they race outside to revel in it. Text and pictures flow smoothly from scene to scene and from one activity to the next. The illustrations and their subject matter have a beauty, realism, and simplicity that evoke another era and will surely make caregivers nostalgic for the pleasures of their youths. Children, meanwhile, should find this daylong romp in the snow exhilarating.

Charming and spectacular; a wintry delight.

(Board book. 18 mos-3)