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Summary
Summary
A boy, his father and their dog have a perfect day in a snowy city, illustrated by Governor General's Literary Award winner Gary Clement.
A young boy wakes up in the early light of a winter morning, pulls on his boots and mittens, and steps out into the snowy city with his dad. They trudge through the snow, their dog bounding along beside them, then a slushy, steamy bus ride takes them to the tobogganing hill for some winter fun. The boy describes all the sights and sounds of the day, from the frost in Dad's beard and the snow "pillows" in the park, to the noisy clunking snow plows and the singing buskers they pass on their way home. That night, the boy lies awake under cozy covers, reflecting on the day, as snow blankets the world outside his window.
This is winter in the city.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
Author Notes
JAMES GLADSTONE is an editor and author of books for children. He has also written the highly acclaimed picture book When Planet Earth Was New, illustrated by Katherine Diemert, and, most recently, Turtle Pond, illustrated by Karen Reczuch. James lives in Toronto.
Gary Clement is an award-winning author and illustrator. He has won the Governor General's Award (Illustration) for The Great Poochini and was a finalist for the Governor General's Award (Illustration) for Just Stay Put, and Oy, Feh, So by Cary Fagan. He has also illustrated A Coyote Solstice Tale by Thomas King and Stories from Adam and Eve to Ezekiel by Celia Barker Lottridge. He is the editorial cartoonist for the National Post, and his work has appeared in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Gary lives in Toronto where he regularly exhibits his drawings and paintings.Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Lyrical language and detailed watercolors capture a child's first-person observations on a snowy city outing. Framed with the repeated phrase "my winter city," the text mixes sharply observed sights, sounds, and feelings to evoke place specifics: "My winter city is a soup of salty slushes, full of sliding buses/ splashing, spraying, sploshing, soaking walkers on the sidewalk." Clement's paintings use twitchy lines and muted colors to bridge moments that Gladstone's text elides--showing the child on the bus, for example, to illustrate "Water runs fast down the aisle past wet boots and toboggans"--and conveying the singular mix of bustle and stillness that city residents experience on snowy days. It's a diverting excursion, down to the sled ride home: "My winter city is an afternoon journey/... past rows of locked bicycles, buried and waiting,/ back where we came from... backwards sledding." Ages 4--7. (Oct.)
Kirkus Review
A father and child enjoy a frigid day together in the city.In first-person narration, with a definite sense of ownership, a youngster describes winter in an urban setting. "My winter city holds early light / around us, / a moment before sunrise, / silent, / still." Nothing is plowed, nothing is touched. There is just the young tot peering out the window, looking at the snow. Then, with toboggan firmly in tow, the duo (along with a pup) sets off outside. The serene silence has changed. "My winter city is a soup of salty slushes, full of sliding buses / splashing, spraying, sploshing, soaking walkers on the sidewalk." They squeeze into the bus with other damp riders, all fogging up the windows. Then they emerge into a new scenea park. "My winter city is a deep-freeze / vision of big icy sled hills / and towers that rise up through / far-away skies." The buildings loom large behind trees and newly cut sledding tracks. Snowflakes continue to dot the sky throughout the adventure, all the way until home again. This specific setting may be unfamiliar to some readers, but the narrator opens the end to varied possibilities: "That's my winter city. // What's yours?" Clement surprises readers with unexpected compositions, crowding them into the bus with all the passengers then pulling back and up for a bird's-eye view of the city street. Father and child both present white, but the community they inhabit is a diverse one.A delicious, snow-filled slice of life. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
