The wonders of winter: new books celebrate the snowy season

REVIEWS BY JULIE HALE

It's one of nature's finest moments—that pristine period, just after snowfall, when a solemn silence spreads over the landscape, and the air is crisp and clean. Nothing can match the magic of a newly whitened world. Capturing the excitement of the season, the books below bring snowflakes and sleigh rides to little readers all year round. So if you're snowed in or simply wishing for a blizzard, curl up with the youngsters, share one of the following books and wait for the white stuff to fall!

Frosty fun

Capturing the thrills and chills of icy weather, Hello, Snow by Hope Vestergaard is a lively look at the perfect winter's day. This spirited tale, told in jaunty rhymed stanzas, follows the adventures of a young girl who is drawn outdoors after a heavy snowfall.

The storyline is classic: after dragging daddy out of bed, the little girl bundles up in a purple snowsuit, bright green hat and matching gloves, and heads out into the invigorating air, greeting nature with a grin: "Hello sunshine! Hello wind! Snowflakes tickle on my chin." While Dad, armed with a shovel, does his duty in the yard, the girl and a neighbor lad throw snowballs and build a snowman. Then the sledding starts. The children's brisk trips downhill, made with a little brown mutt on board, result in a series of spills. But nothing can spoil the fun of this special day: "Brush the snow off. Hello, friend. Good-bye tears. Let's go again!"

Bright illustrations by Nadine Bernard Westcott are the perfect complement to these icy events. Bluebirds swoop through each scene, and a striped cat trails along behind the sledders. This is a delightful story that will make readers wish for wintry weather.


The splendor of the seasons

Young readers will learn to appreciate nature's diversity with Now It Is Winter by Eileen Spinelli. The story features six little mice, all terribly tired of winter, and their wise mother, who helps them see—and savor—the magic of the snowy months.

The mice are anxious for spring, for raspberries and cream rather than oatmeal and brown sugar, for "paper kites" and a "band of April beach" instead of blizzards. They paint sunny scenes even as they dress to go into the snow-covered outdoors, where they twirl on a pond in tiny ice skates and tumble down whitened hills. While the young ones wish for the future, their mother advises them to relish winter, to appreciate the present moment. "Now is the blessing," she tells them in the final stanza. "Now is the time to be."

The little creatures are delicately depicted by illustrator Mary Newell DePalma, who accents her soft silvers and grays with dashes of vibrant color. Spinelli's brief, poetic lines are filled with lovely images. Simple yet profound, this touching little tale is just right for reading aloud.


Journey by ice

Set in 1941, The Greatest Skating Race: A World War II Story from the Netherlands by Louise Borden has all the makings of a classic. A Dutch boy named Piet takes on the mission of a lifetime when he is asked to skate across the canals of the Netherlands into Belgium, where he will serve as a guide to two children who are fleeing from the Germans.

Facing threats from enemy soldiers, braving sub-zero temperatures and chill winds, Piet and the youngsters set out on their journey disguised as students enjoying a day on the ice. To help speed them on their precarious mission, Piet thinks of his hero, Pim Mulier, the first person to successfully complete the Elfstedentocht, a much-celebrated skating race that takes place every year on the canals and waterways of his homeland. With Pim as his inspiration, Piet leads his two friends to safety across the frozen landscape in an act of courage that will inspire readers of all ages. Niki Daly's impressionistic illustrations seem to belong to the era. His fresh-faced young characters and smoky winter scenes add to the timelessness of this remarkable tale.


Julie Hale writes from Austin, where snowflakes are rarely seen.

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