Review by Booklist Review
Here's a cheerful and humorous take on the old, familiar tune If You're Happy and You Know It. The focus here is the joys of winter: If it's snowy and you know it, clap your paws. The pairing of verse and illustration highlights the outdoor activities enjoyed during winter months. Animals from bears to bunnies to seals are shown cavorting across the double-page spreads, skiing, sledding, skating, and generally having a great time. Toward the end, the action slows with tired and cold animals seeking indoor activities such as reading, drawing, or sleepovers. Begging to be sung at storytime, the lyrics roll off the tongue easily. Search no longer for the book to brighten long, dreary days. Once children learn the verses, they will sing this tune all winter long. Pair with Ten on a Sled (2010), also by this talented author-illustrator team.--Edmundson, Martha Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The team behind Ten on the Sled presents a rollicking twist on "If You're Happy and You Know It" starring a bevy of winter-loving animals. Norman offers 11 alliterative verses whose spot-on rhythms and rhymes make singalouds a given: "If your fur is full of flurries, taste a flake./ Skate around or make some angels on a lake." The verses build a narrative that involves an igloo that nearly drifts to sea, an outdoor picnic, and cozy indoor reading and painting. Woodruff includes lightly comedic moments throughout her mixed-media illustrations (a rabbit zips into its footie pajamas in preparation for a slumber party), which have a warmth that belies the midwinter setting. Ages 3-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Horn Book Review
This book puts a frosty twist on the classic tune "If You're Happy and You Know It." Bouncy rhyming verses, perfectly matched to the song's rhythm, roll out as arctic friends, from polar bear to beluga whale, slide, ski, skate, and build a fort in the snow and ice. Mixed-media illustrations extend the text with silly details (e.g., a sunbathing moose). (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A wintry riff on the popular participation song, with a cast of appropriate cold-climate animals. A rabbit in sunglasses slides down a snowy hill, using a polar bear pal as a sled. Penguin, walrus, fox and others look on approvingly. The text faithfully follows the rhythms of the song as these characters frolic. "If your fur is full of flurries, taste a flake" shows the walrus making snow angels while the wolf and bighorn sheep skate neat figure eights around him. "If it's shimmery and sunny, sculpt a friend" features almost all the animals making snow animals. (The moose is sunning in a chair with a reflector.) They also build a fort, blow a kiss, give a roar and share a meal ("If it's starry and you're starving..."). Everyone shares a cave at the end of the day: "If it's sleeting and you're sleepy, climb in bed." It's like a big pajama party. In their sleep, all dream of more exciting fun they can have tomorrow. Norman's solid variations on the preschool song are completely singer-friendly, supported by Woodruff's crisply drawn, smiling animals, in watercolor, colored pencil and pastel. Consistently entertaining and engaging. All together now! (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
