From Publishers Weekly
The alley behind Nathan's house seems to be "a place where something magic could happen," and "one winter something did." Pittman's (The Angel Tree) second winter fantasy of a friendship between a boy and a snowman is stunningly imagined by Col?n (My Mama Had a Dancing Heart) in full-page and panel illustrations that possess the energy and narrative quality of an animated film. Cross-hatched etchings and scraped lines lend depth to the watercolor and pencil pictures, and Col?n's creamy palette casts an amber glow of nostalgia over the slow-starting story. Nathan spends several nights observing the mysterious snowman's antics. One night, he offers the fellow some cookies, and the snowman rewards the boy with his life story and his friendship. Nathan, realizing the snowman will soon be moving north, decides to make him a mate so he won't be lonely. Col?n characterizes the frosty fellow as a 1940s film star in a suave fedora, romancing his unexpected lady love until spring, when the couple must part for colder climes. Although the fanciful story is a bit thin, and the sentimental substance perhaps more appealing to adults than children, Col?n's imaginative illustrations create a wintry, dreamlike atmosphere. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
K Up-A boy's story of a snowman come to life occurs in a surreal nighttime world with no other inhabitants save an unobtrusive cat. Nathan fantasizes about footprints he had made in wet cement, and thinks that maybe they were left by a snowman. Later that night, he does spot a snowman and follows him. Though the snowman laughs and chuckles, he is described as a melancholy figure. Built of the traditional three snowballs, he is handsomely depicted with snowy arms and hands and legs, and feet shod in rubber boots. A hat, scarf, umbrella, and carpetbag complete his outfit as he travels north to stay cold. Col-n's characteristic use of thick layers of paint, scratched and etched for a textured, printlike effect, often results in softened forms. Here, however, the snowman seems hard-edged-more plaster than fluffy snow. The ocher color scheme gives an otherworldly glow to the nightly chats in which Nathan and his new friend share food and drink and swap life stories. Nathan's response to the snowman's sadness is to build him a snow woman, who soon becomes the object of his affections. Having made the match, Nathan loses his snowy companion as the new couple departs to move ahead of the coming spring. The boy then becomes the melancholy figure. The snowy romance is a sweet courtship, but the detached tone of Nathan's narrative suggests nocturnal longings most likely to appeal to adolescent and adult sentiments.
Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
