Review Detail

The First Snow

Kids Indie 148

Perfect for Snow Day Reading

June 04, 2024

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Stefan and Agnes' village is covered in snow and looks completely different. The two head out to have adventures in the winter weather, clad in snowsuits and mittens and armed with birdseed. They try to identify snow covered objects, make snow angels, taste the falling snow, and track animals. They even clean off the path so that there mother doesn't have to and can play with them later. Then, they enter an imaginary world, traveling on the back of a snow bear that they have created. When they return (still with the bear in their company), they feed the birds some seed, and find an abandoned green house that has become an ice palace. Inside, they discover a necklace, and take it to their mother, who says it was one that she lost when she was younger. The three head back out into the snow to enjoy the magical winter landscape.

Good Points

The illustration style is very dreamy, and rendered in soft shades of teal and peach, with a very light chalk pastel effect that makes it seem like everything on the page is as muted by the snow as it is in real life. Even the outlines are done in a darker peach, which adds to this very soft, unfocused effect. The cover has some silver on it, which makes it very appealing, and the end papers have white snowflakes on teal that would make lovely wrapping paper.

There are so many good details of what the world is like when it snows. The light seems brighter in the morning, since the sun is reflecting off the snow. The flakes taste fresh (the village looks to be far from the city!), and the air is crisp. As adults, it's too easy to be annoyed by the snow as it impedes are daily activities, but as children, it's delightful to be able to enjoy a world that is transformed.

Brush off this book, make some cocoa, cuddle under an afghan, and read The First Snow along with a flurry of other winter themed picture books like Davies' The Snowflake, Henkes Winter is Here, Shulevitz' Snow, Thompson's Mouse's First Snow, Koehler's The Little Snow Plow, and Zommer's A Thing Called Snow.