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Summary
Summary
Baby is fast asleep when Mama spies the first flakes of his first snowfall. "It's snowing!" she sings. "Baby, it's snowing!" Mama bundles Baby in thick, warm furs and scrunches into her coat. Out into the snow they go, to see it, smell it, hear it, taste it, touch it--and play in it. Olivier Dunrea's exquisite hymn to snow is the story of a solitary night when a mother introduces her baby to the beauty and pleasure of falling snow.
Author Notes
Olivier Dunrea was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia in 1953. He earned a B.A. from West Chester State College in 1975 and his M.A. in theater and music from Washington State University the following year. Beginning in 1983 Dunrea has written and illustrated more than 50 books for children. The gosling characters Gossie and Ollie are two of his most beloved creations.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-In this joyous winter song, a mother lovingly shares a snowfall with her baby. The warm earthy shades of brown and the softly contoured shapes of her sturdy northern home are echoed in the snow-covered rocks, providing a comforting physical setting for the poetic text. "It's a dark dark, cold cold night," and Mama bundles up herself and Baby, goes out into the sparkling night, and lovingly implores the child to smell and hear and taste and touch the snow. She builds a snow troll and takes the infant riding on a sled and an ice sculpture of a bear. Baby laughs, gets a red nose, and then is tucked back into his cradle while Mama enjoys a hot drink in front of the fire. The gouache paintings are beautifully executed, evoking a sublime winter wonderland. This is a lovely, satisfying story to share at bedtime. Pair it with Uri Shulevitz's Snow (Farrar, 1998).-Susan Pine, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
This quietly wondrous picture book exudes Dunrea's (Bear Noel) delight in revisiting two favorite themes: snowy landscapes and the rustic world of Moel Eyris, a mythical island featured in The Trow-Wife's Treasure and other titles. A peasant woman rocks her sleeping baby inside their cozy, earth-toned stone hut on a "dark dark, cold cold night." Gouache paintings rendered in the artist's precise, delicate hand bring to life a humble turret-like dwelling and its cheerful inhabitants, as well as an awe-inspiring natural beauty. Only touches of green and red in their clothing, a doll, herbs hanging from a beam, add color. But when Mama opens the door to an inky, snowflake-filled sky and excitedly sings, "It's snowing!" their world transforms. She bundles Baby in "thick, warm furs" for an outdoor adventure, and their foray into the flurry of white introduces Baby to the sight, smell, sound, taste and touch of snow. Sledding and snow-troll building round out an exuberant play session before the duo heads back to hearth and cradle. And although the closing scene echoes the opening view, readers can see the magical snow through the window, and the steam rising from Mama's teacup suggests a trace of their mystical experience. Dunrea's simple, poetic text with its gently repetitive pattern ("It's snowing!... Baby, see the snow!") conveys the immediacy of this family's joyful wintry excursion. (One small quibble: Mama appears to lob Baby into the sky at the line "Baby flies into the air.") A scene depicting mother and child tobogganing, Mama's green scarf streaming out behind them, against a backdrop of black night, will leave readers longing for a visit from Jack Frost. Ages 3-6. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Perched on a mountainside is one of Dunrea's signature fantastical homesteads-a round hut whose steeply pitched roof echoes the surrounding peaks and pointed firs, its cozy interior rendered cozier by the rugged scene outside. In by the fire, among such motherly forms as a basket, a kettle, and a bird's nest, sits Mama, herself comfortingly rotund. ""Mama rocks the cradle. / The cradle rocks Baby. / Baby softly sleeps."" Then Mama, peeping out into the dark, sees snow falling. Bundling baby and self securely into furs, ""Mama scoops up Baby / and trundles out the door"" so that he can experience the snow with all his senses (""'Baby, taste the snow!' / Baby opens his mouth...""). Mama makes a snow sculpture; the two go sledding; then, ""It's time to go back to bed...time to rock the cradle."" The gentle, rhythmical rocking of the text conveys a reassuring message that's beautifully supported by Dunrea's spare, snow-dappled gouache illustrations: even such an exotic realm as the awesome and mysterious night may offer creative delights and a chance for babies to revel in new sights and sounds. More lullaby or dream than adventure, the story is rounded with the return to cradle and sleep while the peaceful snow blankets the craggy mountainside-just the right conclusion for bedtime reading. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Against a shadowy pine forest at once mysterious and peaceful, a mother-human, or perhaps a sort of forest gnome-introduces her well-swaddled baby to the pleasures of a snowy night. As soon as Mama sees flakes coming down, she wraps herself and Baby in thick furs and "trundles" out, holding Baby up to see, hear, smell, touch, and taste the snow, then demonstrates sledding down a hill, building a snow troll, and other joys. So evocative is Dunrea's (Gossie, p. 879, etc.) finely detailed art that viewers will practically be able to feel the winter air on their own faces, and experience the deep quiet. The two retreat indoors at last, and the intimate episode ends with nearly the same words with which it begins: "Mama rocks the cradle. The cradle rocks Baby. Baby softly sleeps. Mama sighs and nods her head. Baby sighs and sucks his thumb." There's a feeling of reverence beneath the joy that connects this with both the adult sensibility of Robert Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (Illus. by Susan Jeffers, 1978) and the more childlike pleasures of Ezra Jack Keats's Snowy Day (1962). (Picture book. 5-7)
Booklist Review
PreS. "It's a dark dark, cold cold night," and in a small, warm hut on a remote rugged hill, a mother rocks her baby. Then she opens the door and sees the snow. Wrapping her baby in furs, the mother carries her child out into the night and together they exult in the wintry sensations: "Baby, see the snow . . . smell the snow . . . hear the snow!" After sculpting a snow troll and sledding, the two return exuberant yet sleepy to their cozy fireside. Like Uri Shulevitz's Caldecott Honor Book, Snow (1998), Dunrea's latest celebrates the shock, joy, and power of snow with poetic, minimal words and richly imagined watercolors. More than the sense of the words, the text's rolling rhythms and soft, hypnotic sounds will attract children, but they'll easily follow the story in the beautiful paintings of the snug home--part Laplander, part medieval--and the wild, dark forest. Most of all, children will feel the delight and awe of watching snow transform everything. Gillian Engberg
