I was totally sucked in by the cover of this book. The illustrations do an amazing job of conveying that feeling you get during a blizzard of being wrapped up in a soft haze. Plus, who doesn’t love onomatopoeia! I grabbed it off the shelf right before we went into story time. Then right before nap, I flipped through it. And promptly decided not to read it to the baby, not yet anyway.
As I said, the book is beautiful. The first few pages show a boy awaking to a snowstorm. Each page is punctuated only by the noises of the day; the smoosh, slush of the snowplow, the crinkle of the cat investigating a christmas present. But then (on a page that also shows the flush of a toilet) we can see the back of a woman in a blue dress with a white apron. Is it his mom? Maybe. But I don’t know a lot of moms who are dressed down to an apron and white stockings when their child is getting ready in the morning. Nope, that particular outfit triggers thoughts of a maid, which is pretty odd in this day and age. We continue watching the trucks clear the road and the child prepare for school (and I am thinking I’ll have trouble peeling my child away from this book, with the cat and the snowplows and snow blowers, he will love this). Then the child, who is quite small, not quite waist height, is bundled up and sent outside (by the maid or whoever the woman in uniform is) and he then shovels the very long walk to the street by himself. The school bus pulls up and he races off to school. The maid/mom chases after him with a present, which is unwrapped on the final page.
So the book is lovely, but I guess I just don’t think it makes sense. I assume if a child takes a present on the bus it’s for someone else, but the way the book is set up, it looks like it was for him after all? Why would a mother have her child open his present on the bus? Why would a house with a maid on staff not have staff to clear the walk? What was the guy with the snowblower doing if he wasn’t clearing the walk? I fear I am far too logical. If you are not similarly afflicted, you will absolutely like the great sounds and charming pictures.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – None.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.
