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Summary
Summary
"Oh, when will it snow again?" wonders the little family who lives in the snow globe. They long for a swirling snowstorm--if only someone in the big family would pick up the snow globe and give it a great big shake.
Baby would love to. She alone notices the little family. She gazes longingly at their snowy little world, but the snow globe is up way too high for her to reach. Then, when a real snowstorm sends the big children outside sledding in the moonlight, Baby finds herself alone in the parlor. . . . Will the snow globe family at last get a chance to go sledding too?
As readers follow the parallel adventures of both families, big and little, they will take special pleasure in the miniature world of the snow globe, where the skating pond is the size of a shiny quarter and a snowman is no bigger than a sugar cube.
Author Notes
Jane O'Connor was born in New York City in 1947. She received a bachelor's degree in English literature from Smith College in 1969. In 1971, she began her publishing career by working in the editorial department of Hastings House Publishers. From 1977 to 1983, she was an editor at Scholastic, Inc.; then she moved to Random House, where she became editor-in-chief of children's books. In 1989, she moved to Grosset and Dunlap.
Her first novel, Yours Till Niagara Falls, Abby, was published in 1979. Since then she has written more than 30 children's books including the Nina, Nina Ballerina stories, the Fancy Nancy series and the adult novels Dangerous Admissions and Almost True Confessions. She has won numerous awards including the New York Academy of Sciences Honor book in 1981 for Magic in the Movies: The Story of Special Effects, with Katy Hall; Golden Sower Award, Nebraska Library Association in 1982 for Yours Till Niagara Falls, Abby; and the Quill Award for Best Picture Book in 2007 for Fancy Nancy. She is vice-president and editor-at-large for Penguin Books for Young Readers. In 2013 her title Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy Sees The Future made The New York Times Best Seller List. Fancy Nancy and the Wedding of the Century made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2014.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this enticing, snappily written tale-within-a-tale, O'Connor (Fancy Nancy) introduces two Victorian families, each consisting of a mama, papa, boy, girl and baby. The first family lives in a sprawling, turreted house on whose parlor mantel sits a snow globe, which is home to the second family. The snow globe "has been there such a long time, nobody notices it anymore-nobody except Baby." It is winter year round in the snow globe, and the little family within builds snowmen "as big as lumps of sugar" and skates on a pond "as shiny as a silver coin." The diminutive children love to hear their father's stories of the "big snowstorms from long ago" and pine for a blizzard instead of the gently flurry that occurs when the parlor maid in the big house does her weekly dusting. One evening, as snow falls outside the big house, Baby endeavours to reach the snow globe. In a priceless spread, Schindler (The Cod's Tale) depicts Baby's big eyes as seen by the snow globe family. When Baby loses her balance, she shakes the snow globe into the blizzard that the tiny family was waiting for. Meanwhile, the big family experiences a blizzard of its own. Rendered in colored inks and gouache, Schindler's art brings this whimsical concept to life with subtle humor and treats readers to lavish Victorian particulars and some entertaining perspectives as the wee and life-sized worlds intersect. Ages 4-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Primary) Ingeniously combining children's fascination with both snow globes and miniature worlds, O'Connor and Schindler present the parallel lives of the big family, which lives in a big house high on a hill, and the little family, which lives in the snow globe on their mantel. The snow globe family has cake crumbs for tea, enjoys playing in the unchanging snow, and tries in vain to attract the big family's attention so that someone will shake the snow globe, thus giving the little family what it wants most-""a great big snowstorm. A blizzard!"" But only Baby notices them, and she's too young to talk or to reach so high. Unlike, say, The Doll People (the cat!) or The Tub People (the drain!), this is a benevolent, menace-free vision of the miniature. When the little family's Papa nostalgically recalls past snowstorms, Schindler's illustrations depict not injury and chaos but slapstick humor, such as Papa getting tossed right out of the bathtub. Appropriately, Papa's long, jointed limbs lean toward the doll-like, as do Mama's wooden-doll face (pointed nose, painted-on black hair, red-rouged cheeks) and the family's Victorian dollhouse-like home. In the end, when ""snow starts to fall and doesn't stop"" on the big family's hill, Baby finally finds an opportunity to shake the globe, and both families head out for a glorious evening of sledding. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
In parallel winter worlds, two families dream of a beautiful batch of fresh snow. The members of one family enjoy tea in the snug parlor of their Victorian home. On their mantle sits a snow globe, inside of which a miniature family gathers in a tiny sitting room of its own. Then a swirling snowstorm hits the human world, and the family head outdoors with sleds--all except Baby, who piles pillows to reach the snow globe and topples it, sending a blizzard through the miniature world--much to the delight of the tiny family, who also goes sledding. The story is slight, and children may have trouble distinguishing between the visually similar big and little families. Still, kids will like the notion of a tiny, unseen world within our own, and Schindler's nostalgic, detailed illustrations extend the story's playful humor and create an appealing contrast between the cozy interiors and the bracing thrills of sparkling snow drifts. This isn't a necessary purchase, but it makes a solid choice for a snowy story hour. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2006 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Old-fashioned illustrations, the appeal of dolls, and glitter on the cover cannot save this marginal effort that lacks both tension and logic. On the mantle of a Victorian family's home stands a snow globe. Inside it is another Victorian-looking, although doll-like, family. All they want is for someone to shake the globe so they can have a blizzard. But no one notices them, except Baby. One day, during a storm, the live family goes out to play, leaving the baby and her mother behind. The child climbs up to the mantle, takes down the object that captures her attention, and causes a blizzard inside. Then Mama decides that the snow is "too wonderful to miss" and takes Baby outside. Both families enjoy the elements, and the snow globe is returned to the mantle, but now the cat is creeping up on it-. The text is simple and somewhat disconnected, and the art, while attractive, will have limited appeal. The odd premise and lack of real excitement are unlikely to capture a young audience.-Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A small and gentle foray into imagination. A mama, a papa, a boy, a girl and a baby live in a big Victorian house. On their mantel sits a lovely old snow globe, and inside it lives a tiny family of the same configuration. The tiny snow globe family wishes for a big storm--someone to shake the globe--but that has not happened for some time. The papa tells of times the dishes were knocked off the shelves and he was thrown out of the tub. In the big world, a blizzard sends the family out with their sled, but mama and baby stay inside. Baby manages via footstool and pillows to reach the top of the mantel, to tumble over with the snow globe, providing just the "storm" the snow globe family had hoped for. They go out sledding on their tiny hill, Baby's mama decides the snow is too wonderful for them to miss outside the big house and off they go, too ("Wheeeeee!"). Schindler's colored inks and gouache in a wry, slightly exaggerated style capture the Victorian setting perfectly, vivacious line and muted color making a fine winter bedtime treat. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
