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Summary
Summary
Squirrel has never seen it snow, and this year he is determined not to miss it. He wants his friends, Hedgehog and Bear, to see it snow too, but it's hard to stay awake. Finally, winter arrives, and snow is falling...or it is?
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Like furry slapstick comedians, a squirrel, hedgehog and bear make one sweet goof after another as they look for the first snowflake of winter. Told that it will be "white and wet and cold and soft," they put off hibernating and begin to search. Hedgehog holds up his discovery in triumph: it's a toothbrush ("Winter will be wonderful," Hedgehog thinks, as the next page shows the animal delighting in a shower of white toothbrushes against an inky sky). Squirrel is convinced that a tin can is the first snowflake, and Bear appears with an old white sock. Meschenmosher (Learning to Fly) sketches freely on white pages in dark gray and sepia, drawing with casual grace and unerring comic instinct. Squirrel's reddish hair springs forth frenetically, Hedgehog's prickles look untidy and sleepy, and Bear's luxurious fur hangs over his eyebrows, making him look even grumpier. Giggles and guffaws will abound (three whole spreads are devoted to Squirrel and Hedgehog belting out sea shanties to keep themselves awake). The moment when the snow really does begin to fall is worth waiting for, too. A quiet, atmospheric and offbeat treasure. Ages 5-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Informed that snow is coming White and wet and cold and soft young Squirrel vows not to miss this new experience. Fearful that he may fall asleep while waiting, he and his friends try exercise and singing; finally, they set off in search of the elusive white stuff, mistakenly imagining the forest covered with discarded toothbrushes, old tin cans, and abandoned socks. At long last the predicted precipitation arrives, blanketing the forest in a luscious whiteness that enables Squirrel and his friends to construct a snowman. Meschenmoser's sketch-pad colored-pencil artwork features mostly browns and grays until a wash of blue is added along with the arrival of snow. Squirrel's impatient and exuberant personality is naturally well suited to young listeners, who will giggle appreciatively as he rushes frenetically from branch to branch. A great story hour choice (especially for preschoolers who don't remember snow from the previous year); pair with Bernette Ford's First Snow (2005).--Weisman, Kay Copyright 2009 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
In "The Snow Day," a bunny child awakes to find the ground covered in white. BY DAVID BARRINGER A HAGGARD, bristly, undercaffeinated squirrel waits, palm open, for winter's first flake. What is snow? He isn't sure. Like a child, he can't wait to find out. Unlike a squirrel, he does wait. In "Waiting for Winter," the brilliant pencil work of the author and artist Sebastian Meschenmoser brings to sketchy, scratchy life a charming, idiosyncratic character. Squirrel is as unkempt and uncombed as a parent on Sunday morning, but as innocently impulsive as a child bouncing on the bed. Meschenmoser's energy of line imparts a barely controlled frenzy when Squirrel tears up and around a tree, trying to stay awake for winter. Squirrel's activity wakes Hedgehog, and their singing wakes Bear. If the sight of hulking, slouching old Bear doesn't make you laugh out loud, then you have no heart. These creatures are not slickly cute but refreshingly sympathetic. They do not ask to be admired. They look, as if they need a hairbrush - and a cup of hot chocolate. Searching for whatever is "white and wet and cold"- because, according to Deer, that is what snow is - the three animals discover a toothbrush, a tin can and an old sock. One can imagine children following along and, upon seeing toothbrushes falling from the sky, shouting, "That's not snow!" The animals possess childlike yearning for the first snowflake while remaining woodland creatures who don't know what tin cans and socks are. Kids can identify with the animals' desires while enjoying insider knowledge of the human, domestic world. As the animals stare at the sock on the ground, the first snowflake lands on Bear's nose. Just like that, the prickly, inhospitable forest is transformed by snowfall into a white playground. The vacant sky turns a deep nighttime blue. The animals make tracks, build a snowman and cuddle up in a cave to nap. Snow is change. And change is good. The world is beset by a snowstorm in Komako Sakai's "Snow Day," in which school is canceled, Mom stays home and Dad's return flight is delayed. Narrated by a bunny child, the story builds slowly but with a growing tension, reinforced by the rough, grainy illustrations. The bunny family inhabits a small thirdfloor apartment (the characters are bunnies, but they live and behave entirely like people). The grays and browns are muted and layered; the characters move beneath heavy brushwork and oil pencil. The art in "The Snow Day" is unpretty and mesmerizing. This world is dark, heavy, unsentimental and thick with sameness. The story begins with the bunny child waking in bed to her mother's news of the snowstorm. The apartment may be cold and gray, but the child is excited. To touch the new snow, she sneaks out onto the balcony, where she makes a snow dumpling. Alone in the apartment, with the father trapped in another city, mother and child stand on the balcony. "No cars drove by. No one walked around. There was just the falling snow." And then the bunny child says, "Mommy, we are all alone in the world." Wow. This is the bittersweet solitude of snow, it brings a new sensory experience, but also isolation and separation. The snow day alters the family's routines, and the child is free, finally, at night, to build snow monsters with her mother. But they are also lonely. They build three mounds of snow. It is only the end of the snowstorm that will bring the father home. After cranky creatures and existential storms, behold the uncomplicated gladness of the season. Here are the idealized colors of Christmas, in "The Christmas Magic," by Lauren Thompson, with pictures by Jon J Muth, where the watercolor illustrations are glowing and pure and nostalgic. Tree boughs are light in cottony mittens of snow, and in the middle of a snowy field glows a humble yellow house with a red door and a smoking chimney: Santa's house. The story, however, brings a twist to tradition. This Santa differs from the usual rotund elf: he is thinner, more human, with a pointy mustache. With Christmas on the way, Santa, like a gentleman farmer, gets to work. He calls the reindeer, feeds them, struggles to push open a huge barn door and readies the sleigh in the barn, which, with a workbench and tools, looks like a garage. Santa oils boots, knits stockings and trims his mustache. He is a bachelor living alone in the woods - no Mrs. Claus, no elves, no factory. He is an at-home Claus, elf-employed and as content as Thoreau. It's a charming conceit, this stripped-down Santa. If he were to steer his sleigh into a nearby village, hop out and distribute toys, the conceit would be taken to a pleasant kind of logical end. The "magic," however, grabs the reins and returns the story to a more familiar course. There is the impossibly large sack of toys for every child in the world, and the sleigh, pulled by flying reindeer, rising into the starry sky. The story ends with liftoff. It's a curious tale. The prose is as spartan as this new Santa, and the watercolor art is inviting, rich and warmly wintery, with the soft edges that artists love to impart to children's sugarplum dreams. The transformation of Santa from chubby C.E.O. to single guy with a barn is welcome and endearing. But the ground-tosky flight plan of sleigh and reindeer is a familiar transformation. Snow is good. Snow is complicated. And sometimes snow is just something pretty that melts too soon. David Barringer is the author of "There's Nothing Funny About Design."
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Deer nonchalantly mentions that, "Winter is almost here. I think it is going to snow." Since Squirrel has never seen it, he decides to forgo hibernation, and see what this "white and wet and cold and soft" substance looks like. He waits and waits and waits-but to no avail. He decides to do some exercises in order to stay awake, and along the way he wakes up Hedgehog. They wait and wait, but still no precipitation. Soon, their boredom-busting antics awaken Bear. Based on Deer's definition, each animal finds what he thinks is snow, but readers will know that they're wrong, and will be as delighted as Squirrel, Hedgehog, and Bear when the real flakes begin to fall. One minor quibble with the text and pictures not meshing completely is when Squirrel puts an old tin can on his head, thinking it matches the description of snow, when the picture of the can is clearly shown in shades of gray, not white. The illustrations are deftly drawn in colored pencils, complete with sketching lines that give the renderings depth and maturity. The addition of broadly stroked hues of azure paint when the snow arrives will startle and delight young readers as it makes the white space of the page really come to life. This is a beautiful title to share with children on a lap or with a small group.-Lisa Gangemi Kropp, Half Hollow Hills Community Library, Dix Hills, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Squirrel usually sleeps through winter, "[b]ut not this year!" The rumpled red squirrel is determined to see snowbut waiting gets pretty boring. Fresh air and exercise help, as does the companionship of Hedgehog, with whom he sings sea shanties, and Bear, who helps them look for snow. Meschenmoser's minimalist text provides just enough support for his laugh-out-loud illustrations, rendered in swift, penciled lines on creamy white space. Squirrel's red coat provides a spot of color against the autumnal grays and sepias used to sketch out the trees and the other animals. He packs a wealth of expression into each animal's face without venturing into heavy anthropomorphism. Readers will howl at the animals' mistaken notions of snow, and they'll sigh with satisfaction at the just-cozy-enough end. A perfect marriage of words and pictures. (Picture book. 4-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
