Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss. ( )

lyrical, delicious, snowy story ( )

This lovely book for readers 3 and up featuring lyrical prose and gorgeous watercolors is all the more interesting and appealing for focusing only on a father, a child of indeterminate gender, and their dog. Together they spend the day in a snowy city. They start out by joining others in the street, with all the“trudging, huffing creatures” moving “at the sluggish speed of snow.”

One can imagine fully the winterscape so evocatively painted by both the talented author and illustrator:

“My winter city is a soup of salty slushes, full of sliding buses
splashing, spraying, sploshing, soaking walkers on the sidewalk.”

At the park, the three tackle the “big icy sled hills” surrounded by “towers that rise up through far-away skies.” Afterwards, the child muses:

“An icicle factory, that’s my winter city,
All sizes, all pointing straight down to the ground,
Where we take our rest on light powder pillows
As heavy thunder plow beasts scrape and clunk.”

“My winter city is an afternoon journey
Past sidewalk singers in shivery shadows,
Past winter workers with hot steaming chocolate,
Past rows of locked bicycles, buried and waiting…..”

Illustrator Gary Clement packs detail into his pictures, such as a scene on the bus, where one rider is on a smartphone, one is reading an e-book, a little girl in a cat hat admires their dog, and so on. The pictures are colorful and clever, and children will spent hours picking out the details.

Evaluation: This book is filled with warmth, in spite of its snowy setting. I loved the poetry, and I enjoyed perusing the artwork for all the hidden surprises, including family scenes in apartment building windows, and the ways in which building lights varied in shape, size, and brightness. All together a feast for both the eyes and ears! ( )