Snowby Cynthia Rylant
illustrated by Lauren Stringer
Harcourt, November 2008
review copy provided by the publisher
I'm not ready for the reality of snow yet: slogging, shoveling, slipping, sliding. But I'm more than ready to dream about snow and remember all the different kinds of snow.
That's what Cynthia Rylant's new book is good for: dreaming and remembering and snuggling up with her descriptions of fat-flaked school-closing snows, light snows that sit on even the smallest tree limbs, heavy snows that bury evidence of the world, and more. Rylant meditates on the beauty of snow, the way it reminds us of all things impermanent, and its place in the natural cycle of life (at least in places far enough north and/or not withstanding global warming).
Lauren Stringer's illustrations do a perfect job of combining the warmth of indoors and the cold of outdoors during snow. There is a fun subplot in the illustrations to discover after savoring Rylant's words.
