Before Morning by Joyce Sidman & Illus by Beth Krommes

Did I tell you I have an illustration crush on Beth Krommes? I did Blue on Blue last summer and was mentioned that I was excited about this book coming out. While talking a children's literature class, I did some research on her and I found this blog post about her that was fascinating about how she creates her art. 

This is Sidman and Krommes second book together and it is so amazingly sweet and simple. 

It has everything to do with childhood helplessness and the gift of a free day in the form of a snow day. 

This little kid in the red touque is our hero. Watch her closely. 

She wants to stop and stare at the bakery window, but her mother has no time for that today. 

(I am that mother. Everyday Elsie wants to stomp through the snow beside the sidewalk on our way out of school and I am the impatient mother, telling her to do that when she gets home, just get in the car for crying out loud!)

They get home to a turkey dinner, but you can tell from the child's face that all is not well. In the next picture, you see her mother in pilot garb, clearly telling her daughter goodnight and goodbye. The daughter doesn't seem to want to let her go. 

Finally, words appear on the pages. Words so perfectly cozy and wish filled. At the end of the book Joyce Sidman discusses invocations. Words that make things happen. And the words in this book have all the force to make snow happen. 

In the deep woolen dark... 

The mother heads out while the others snooze.

But it is snowing in earnest now.

Let the air turn to feathers, 

Doesn't the image of snow geese wafting their downy feathers down as snow make you happy?

A city in snow

The airport founders

A new world of white

A world that means all flights are cancelled and Momma can be home for the day. 

Oh the joy! The gift of time.

A cozy, unhurried breakfast

And then setting out to explore this newly changed world.

I LOVE this picture!!

And the fact that they have a toboggan. I haven't seen a toboggan in years.

And in this free day, there is time to stop and stare. 

I like that the mother is still wanting to go, but isn't quite as blinded to what her daughter wants. 

Because let's face it. Even on "free" days, mothers sometimes have different ideas on how to spend time than their kids. But oh, the delight of having everything to yourself as a child. It happens so rarely in this world you can't control. But on this day, this one day, the world is yours. 

As an adult, I still feel like that sometimes. A day free from pulling. Oh the bliss! 

White Snow, Bright Snow by Alvin Tressalt and Illus by Roger Duvoisin

We all know this book, right? From the 1940's, they still sell it in the Scholastic Book Order fliers my kids get. Which is a sign of... well, of something. I wonder if authors ever felt they had "arrived" if their book appeared in the Scholastic Book Order fliers? 

There is a lot of great rhyming and rhythm going on, as well as some fabulously bright and snowy illustrations. Which is probably why it is still being published. 

This book wastes no time with end papers or title pages--it gets right to business and leaves those things for subsequent pages. 

I love all these people predicting snow. All these people whose business it is to watch the sky and notice changes that would predict the weather. (Clearly they had never heard of the Weatherbug app.)  Because the weather had a direct impact on their everyday life, beyond a minor annoyance in the commute.  

It follows each of our predictors as the snow starts coming down. What do they do to get ready for the snow? 

The enchantment of snow! 

And when night came, icy cold snowflakes sparkled in the light of the windows.

Is there anything cozier than comparing a snowy outside with a bright and warm inside?

Nope.

Buried!

The impact snow had on these characters. I adore that poor policeman's quilt and his wife sitting next to him knitting. 

These are such simple pictures, but so evocative somehow!

Winter Choosing by Jane Yolen & Illus by Ted Lewin

Winter Choosing

The scruffy reds

and golds

of winter finches

puffed out against the wind

decorate our feeders. 

They cling

to the branches

 of the fir

 and make even the bare

ligaments

of the lilac bush

flush with color against the snow.

I choose birds in their winter plumage

before the splendor

of our neighbor's tree 

refracting 

in her window;

before the rainbow 

of her lights

strung along the porch.

After Christmas

our neighbor 

packs away her lights,

storing strings of bulbs,

in the attic.

But the winter birds sit,

fattened and glowing

from sunflower seeds 

on the feeders

in our yard,

lasting long, long, 

past the turning of the year. 

The Poet's Dog by Patricia MacLachlan

(Kenard Pak did the enchanting cover art.)

This is a short little book full of warmth and love and an Irish Wolfhound named Teddy. It was a super quick read, which is pretty much Patricia MacLachlan's chapter book trademark. Two kids, Nickel and Flora are stranded in a snowstorm. They appear to be abandoned by their parents. My sister and I both thought they had terrible parents. (Spoiler alert, their parents aren't rotters after all.) When the stumble through the snowstorm into the woods, Teddy finds them. 

Teddy is not just any old Irish Wolfhound. Teddy is the Poet's Dog. And dogs can talk to poets and children. I was a bit unsure of this, since I have that realistic fiction preference thing going on, but it doesn't seem fantastical at all. Sometimes, it seems like kids and dogs can talk. 

Teddy leads Nickel and Flora to the poet's empty cabin in the woods where they all weather the storm together. Through the storm, they get to know each other and the children learn of Teddy's uncertain future. 

Teddy's words are in italics. Human words are regular. 

This book was a cozy, heart warming book. It isn't mind blowing or perspective altering, but it gives you the same feeling warm slippers, your favorite sweatshirt, and no where to be for the evening gives you. 

Or gives me anyway. 

Secrets of Winter by Carron Brown & Illus by Georgina Tee

My cousin-in-law is an Usborne book consultant. I had never bought anything from her because I was pretty sure that the books were fairly generic and mass produced. (I am a book snob.) However, two nature books at a second hand book shop caught my eye recently and was surprised to find they were Usborne. Hm.... So when she had a book party before Christmas, I decided to give it a try. I bought this book because I liked the front cover. 

Don't judge. 

And, that whole shine a light thing?! I was a little curious.

Endpaper love!

The illustrations are as fabulous as the cover--all snowy and woodsy. See those large blank spaces? Well hold the page up to light or a flashlight and....

...tada! Snowflakes show through. The kids are fascinated by this. (I am a little bit too....) 

But as a realistic parent and a school librarian, I am not terribly keen on the whole, manhandle-one-page-to-shine-a-light-through thing. I mean, page tears and rip outs are only a matter of time. 

Fortunately, you can also read this book and skip the entire shining a light bit and it still works. You flip the page over and there is a black and white page of whatever is supposed to shine through. I don't think not shining a light detracts much from the story. But kids are more fascinated by the light shining bit.  

Whoosh! 

What has landed in that tree? 

A flock of waxwings. They eat the tree's berries. 

You have to flip the page anyway to read the words, so you can just save yourself the bother and the book the danger, by skipping the light thing. 

There is something about the contrast between the black and white pages and the colored pages that I like. 

The words are minimal enough to hold even pre-k-er's attention. 

Aren't these pictures lovely?!

Since part of the common core curriculum has a habitat focus in the lower grades, I am a little excited about this book. 

(I know. Only geeky school librarians are excited about things like that.) 

A fox creeping through the shadowy, snowy forest by a frozen lake in the moonlight. My heart just squealed with delight!

Of course, the fact there is a full moon while it is snowing is a little interesting. But it makes for a pretty picture. 

And at the end of the book, it delves a little deeper into several habitat specific things, which is perfect for older kids. 

My biology, book loving self is a fan of this book. 

The jury is still out on Usborne fiction (I bought two short chapter books, but I haven't had time to read them yet) but they sure do nature proud!

The Story of the Snow Children by Sibylle von Olfers

(I really wanted my amaryllis in the picture. It didn't work out quite as well as it could have, but my amaryllis is very red and sunshiney!)

This is an incredibly adorable, charming, and sweet book that you will like much better than your children will. It really is. I bought this a few years ago as a treat for my kids. I think we have read it once. It is so cute!! But... the story is not as delightful and entertaining as the pictures are. It is markedly a product of it's time, 1905. Poppy, the heroine really does nothing, but go along with what others tell her to do until she gets too tired and cries. She is then carried home. It is realistic in a way that children are always carted around and told what to do, but... we like our heroines to have a little pep. 

But it is so sweet.  

See how cute it is? Adorable!

Poppy is left all alone as her mother just stepped out for something. She sees snowflakes dancing and playing in the garden, calling for her to come out and see them. 

The snowflakes call for Swirly-wind to bring her sledge to carry Poppy to the Snow Queen's castle. 

The snow queen and the royal princess. While I think those little snowflake babies are adorable, the sameness of them all is vaguely disturbing to me. Snowflakes are delightfully different, not clones.

They have a lovely meal with snowman waiters. Which are vaguely disturbing to me as well. Not sure why. Something about the humanness of their non-humanness looks like they are men in puffy white suits. Who may have a sinister reason for hiding inside snowmen suits...

I am weird. Pay no attention to me. 

Finally, Poppy has had too much. 

Her ears and eyes had had enough and her body ached. Now all she wanted was to go home.

Over-stimulation. That will do it every time. 

The Snow Queen's snowman drives Poppy home where her mother is waiting to welcome her home and hear about her adventure.

Admittedly, I am not a fantasy fanatic, but I typically love sweet fairy stories like this. However, this one just doesn't do it for me or my kids. I like the pictures better than the story. 

January from Around the Year by Elsa Beskow

Tick-tock says the clock,

it's twelve of the night. 

The New Year's here

and the stars are bright.

The old year's gone, 

he's tired and worn. 

Christmas is past,

The tree all shorn. 

The star-children come

 in the dead of the night, 

like three Wise men

bringing the light.

Tick-tock says the clock. 

The New Year's come. 

Good Year to you all

until the next to come.