Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow!

For some reason I feel compelled to write about a snow book. Possibly because there is over 6 inches of the stuff outside my door right now.

Isaac loves the book Snowmen at Night by Caralyn and Mark Buehner. It is the prequel to Snowmen at Christmas. Have you ever wondered what snowmen do at night? What causes them to sag and look lopsided the morning after they have been created? In this book, the boy asking these questions imagines a world where the snowmen come to life once the town is asleep. They gather in the park to play, skate, sled, and have snowman races. They return home as the sun comes up, a bit worse for the wear, but grinning from snow ear to snow ear.

The text has a nice rhythm for reading out loud and Isaac enjoys seeing the snowmen act like little kids as they throw snowballs, make snow angels and generally frolic in the snow. But what really makes this book great are the illustrations. Buehner's pictures are computer generated, but they are much more layered and textured than most computer generated illustrations I have seen. The colors are vibrant, even though the setting is the middle of the night. The pages almost come to life as you turn them.

There us a bit of a gimic with the book. Buehner has hidden small images in the pictures that the children are challenged to find. They do not have anything to do with the story, but children will want to spend time looking for them, which can be fun and frustrating. Some of them are not easy to find.

I think we will be digging this book out tonight for story time. I would much rather read about snowmen than go out and build one right now.