SNOW KID

Move over, Frosty, it’s time to get existential.

In a wintry wonderland, a diverse quartet of children construct a snow kid (who’s described with they/them pronouns) with stick arms, stones for eyes and mouth, a carrot nose, and a top hat. Delighted with their creation, the youngsters dub the snow kid Twig but soon depart to warm up with hot chocolate. Their story is over, but Twig’s is just beginning. When the wind carries off Twig’s hat, the snow kid cries out, making their first sound. Twig wonders: What else can they do? They take their first steps but then confront a conundrum: Is Twig still Twig? Has the loss of the hat and the discovery of these new abilities transformed Twig into something else? “It seemed like the only way to go back to being Twig was to keep moving forward.” As Twig journeys farther, encountering new obstacles, their body transforms—they accumulate more snow, they lose their carrot—which provokes further questions. Savvy educators and caregivers will delight in introducing kids to this wholly original wintry tale that’s both a creative contemplation of identity and a sweetly snowy metaphor for the maturation process. Sima’s delicately hued, cartoonish images uplift the text, creating a visual story that enhances Twig’s tale.

A snowy delight guaranteed to melt hearts.