Snow (Caldecott Honor Book) (Hardcover)

~ (Author, Illustrator) "The skies are gray..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Uri Shulevitz won a Caldecott Medal for his illustrated edition of Arthur Ransome's The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, and has won numerous other awards for illustrating his own books. Not surprising, then, that he'd create such a lovely book as Snow, a touching story about childish hope, grumpy pessimistic grownups, and the wonder of snowfall. Will the snow come? (Oh, please?) In the first scene there is none, but the second has--if you can find it--a single flake. Then there are more--but they melt. And then, finally... joy! These are unusually subtle illustrations for a children's book: so many illustrators try to out-do each other with lurid effects and excessive brightness, but many of Shulevitz's exquisite panels are close to monotone. He paints whole cityscapes in a dozen shades of gray, with small human figures who you notice (at second glance) have coats of gray-green, gray-blue, or gray-brown. The adults have tiny Edwardian parasols or handle-bar moustaches. The abstract, atmospheric, folktale effect is heightened by a pared-to-the-bone text, just a few words per page. "'It's nothing,' said man with hat. Then three snowflakes. 'It's snowing,' said boy with dog." Snow perfectly captures the transformative nature of snow and the result is magical. Click to see a sample spread. Illustrations and text ©Uri Shulevitz, reprinted with permission from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (Ages 3 to 6) --Richard Farr

From Publishers Weekly

In this companion to Dawn and Rain Rain Rivers, Shulevitz uses text as spare as a December landscape to cast a spell of winter magic. Despite predictions to the contrary ("'No snow,' said radio"; "'It'll melt,' said woman with umbrella"), a boy and his dog spy a single snowflake and rush outside in gleeful anticipation. Sure enough, one snowflake turns into two, two into three, and before long snow is "dancing, playing,/ there, and there,/ floating, floating through the air." In a lovely fantasy sequence that hints at the wonder children find in snowfall, a trio of Mother Goose characters climb down from a bookshop window to join the boy and his dog as they frolic through the city streets. The Caldecott Medalist works a bit of visual alchemy as the tale progresses, gradually transforming the chilly gray watercolor washes with flecks of snow, until his cityscape is a frozen fairyland. Pure enchantment from start to finish. Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (July 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374370923
• ISBN-13: 978-0374370923
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #55,730 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple, beautiful, and a classic, March 5, 1999

By A Customer

Since I love snow and obviously live in an area where it is a big deal if it does, I was immediately drawn to open the cover of this beautifully illustrated book. I love the simplicity of words and unique fun illustrations. It reads like how a child would think and that's what makes it so beautiful. Since it is not cluttered with too many words, the story allows the reader and the person being read to, to think and use their own thoughts and imagination. The storyline is about a boy's hope and faith that one snowflake will lead to two, and more, despite the unbelieving and cynical opinions of adults who cross his path. I can actually put myself in his shoes and jump right in those pages. I hope my children will grow to love this book like I do. It has become one of my personal treasures.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Really Feels Like Snow, January 10, 2000

By A Customer

The illustrations in this book capture the mood of snow. The gray sky gives way to more and more and more white snowflakes culminating in a snow covered world. The artwork's gradual buildup of the storm truly evokes the soft, silent feel of snow.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A snowy day, July 24, 2005

By	E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

By and large, the general rule guiding picture books and the Caldecott awards they garner is that no children's author/illustrator ever wins the Caldecott Award for their best work. This rule generally applies to all awards, I suppose in some way. Oscar winning actors, actresses, and directors never seem to win for their best films either. But the case seems to be even more extreme when it comes to picture books. Let's take author/illustrator extraordinaire Uri Shulevitz as our example. Now review your Caldecott knowledge and tell me what book earned Shulevitz a Caldecott. If you said, "The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship", you are correct. Now, tell me which book Shulevitz both wrote and illustrated which DESERVED the Caldecott Award (not Honor). If you said, "Snow" then you are once more right right right. I recently discovered this charming and thoroughly pleasing little book all on my own and I can tell you here and now that aside from the great "Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats, there is no other book that so skillfully pinpoints the elation a child feels at the first real snowfall of the year.

We're in a village. A village where the clouds hang heavy overhead and the only words on the first page are, "The skies are gray. The rooftops are gray. The whole city is gray". The next two-page spread gives a perfect sense of anticipation. Underneath this mono-colored set of stores and houses are the words, "Then......one snowflake". And if you look very very carefully, there's a single spot of white against the gray swelling watercolor that is the sky. A boy in an orange hat points out the flake with delight, his dog by his side. His grandfather, however, doesn't think snow is possible. Then there are two snowflakes (with a man in a hat pish-pishing the possibility). Then there are three snowflakes and a lady with an umbrella proclaims that they'll simply melt. And they do, it's true. "But as soon as one snowflake melts another takes its place". And in spite of the adults and in spite of the radio and in spite of the television, it begins to snow. The boy frolics with his dog and some imaginary friends. And by the time the snow is done the whole city is white but the sky is a brilliant bright sunny blue hue.

This is a book about hope. How childish belief can overcome adult nay-sayers and jaded remarks. Never mind that after a few months the kid will want to see anything BUT snow. At this point in time, he's trumped the grown-ups of the world. I especially enjoyed the parts of the book that declared that "snowflakes don't listen to radio, snowflakes don't watch television". What snowflakes do is fall. Shulevitz spares his words for the moments when they are most needed. When they do come, they are brisk and to the point. His boy and dog, on the other hand, are playful and exuberant. This book in some ways resembles nothing so much as a Maurice Sendak story. The frolicking child character is especially Sendakian, it now occurs to me. Still, these illustrations are far more subtle and restrained than most other picture books. The snowflakes, when they appear, are so tiny and insignificant that it takes a quick eye to spot them. The watercolors are lovely muted tones and the characters (at least the adults) are people with exaggerated gravity, quickly becoming ridiculous when they find themselves caught out in an "unexpected" snowfall.

You can tell readily if some books will be lovely deeply and dearly by children for years to come. This is one such of a kind. It's bound to be beloved by millions for decades and decades. A wonderful discovery