Tuesday Storytime: Winter Snows

And finally caught up to this week!  We have had persistent rumors of snow this weekend, so I felt that was the best time to start my snowy series of reads.  I'll do a bit of Christmas intermission, and then pick the snow-and-cold theme back up in January.

Blizzard

John Rocco

ISBN: 9781423178651

Rocco engagingly recounts and illustrates his adventures in the New England blizzard of 1978,

This book is a lovely slice of Americana.  Rocco's character is thrilled at first as the giant storm shuts everything down under a thick blanket of snow, but after five days, facing the dire straits of cocoa made with WATER, he undertakes a perilous voyage that only he is qualified to complete (because he's the only one small enough to use tennis rackets for snowshoes and not sink into the chest-high powdery snow).  He sets off with good intentions, a grocery list, and a set of neighbors to check in on, and eventually (a four-page-fold-out-spread later) he makes it to the store to collect the necessary provisions.  A cute story of unexpected snow and sweet innocent playful fun.

Mimi and Bear in the Snow

Janee Trasler

ISBN: 9780374300937

Relatively new, and absolutely adorable.  Mimi Bunny loses Bear while playing in the snow, and the next morning finds everything melted away.

Bear does everything with Mimi.  Ice-skating, building snow hats, building snow monsters... but then Bear disappears, and he doesn't even re-appear by bedtime!  Something has gone wrong, but when Mimi retraces her steps the next morning, all the snow is gone too!  Will she be able to find Bear?  I like this story because the concept of snowfall that vanishes totally by the next morning isn't one that you see in a lot of children's books, but it's the reality for most of us down here.

Polar Bear Night

Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Stephen Savage

ISBN: 9780439495240

Absolutely stunning illustrations elevate this slight story about a polar bear venturing out into the starry, snowy, night alone.

Sweet, lyrical, short, simple.  If it weren't for those amazing lush thick spreads, I don't think I'd be excited to read this as often as I am.  The polar bear cub is sweet and the story is cute, but it really is the illustrations that keep this one moving along.  It is different enough from most other picture book illustration styles that the adults and the kids just can't stop staring at it.  Really a knockout visual treat.