Review by Booklist Review
A cheery child wakes up one morning to discover a delightful surprise: it's snowing! After donning a bright orange hat and grabbing a yellow sled, the child, who has noticeably East Asian features and could be any gender, trundles outside. After some exploring, sledding, and tumbling in the snow, a storm picks up, and it's time to go home for cozy hot chocolate. While Kaneko's story is approachably slight, Saito's lively artwork steals the show. In thick oil pastels, gouache, acrylics, and colored pencil, he wonderfully captures the atmosphere of a snowy day. Plump splotches of opaque white speckle every page, while bright colors peek through a veil of snowy hues. He renders the child's sledding adventure with thrilling movement jumbles of effervescent, swirling lines heighten the action before the child finally comes to a stop, rosy cheeked and grinning, partially buried in a soft pile of white. There's no shortage of picture books about snowy days, but this one, with its playful art style and joyful celebration of winter, is particularly lovely.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Pure joy: it's what one apple-cheeked toddler experiences as he dives headlong into the snowy day outside, and it's what readers will feel as they follow along. It's easy to think of this book as a wintry companion to 2012's Beach Feet, illustrated by Saito and translated from the Japanese by Kaneko. The minimal text conveys the boy's reactions in extemporaneous bursts ("Flittering and fluttering... the snowflakes fall silently to the ground"), allowing Saito's terrifically emotive paintings the spotlight. Thick, thumbprintlike daubs of paint suggest a real flurry in action, and the boy's bright green coat, orange hat, rosy cheeks, and yellow sled pop from the white landscape. Those colors come together in a jumbled disarray as the boy flies downhill on his sled, his wild motion captured in dynamic angles and forceful strokes of paint; one can almost hear him catching his breath as he collapses in a happy heap in the snow. Hot chocolate, "melting and sweet," with Mommy, a reminder of winter's indoor pleasures, caps off a transfixing vision of a child's investigation of, and delight in, his world. Ages 3-7. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-A tousle-haired child is delighted to look out the window and find that it is snowing. After bundling up per Mommy's orders, he heads outdoors. First-person perspective lends immediacy to the text: "The snow is light and fluffy. It's soft and cold. Look! I've found an icicle. It is shiny and clear like glass." The mixed-media illustrations make good use of the textural properties of oil pastels, depicting a soft, snowy world that is still vibrant with bright color. When the child finds an icicle, the small bit of ice hanging from a snowy branch reflects the bright colors worn by the child, connecting the vividness of the experience to the muted quiet typically conveyed in winter scenes. The main action of the story concerns the anticipation, terror, and joy of a trip down the sledding hill and culminates with Mommy arriving at just the right moment to bring the child home for a cozy cup of cocoa. Pair this title with Ezra Jack Keats's classic The Snowy Day for another sensory-rich account of exploring on a winter day. VERDICT The story is slight, but the experience is fresh and lively, making this an excellent choice for most libraries.-Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, MN © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Its snowing! A young boy cant contain his excitement when he looks outside and sees snow. He bundles up with the help of his mother and heads out, leading readers along on his adventures as he catches snow on his mittens, snaps an icicle from a tree branch, and climbs onto his sled for a ride. Kanekos use of descriptive language -- snow flittering and fluttering and Whoosh! Wheee! as the boy speeds down the hill -- gives the reader a sensory experience of the childs world. Saitos illustrations, created with oil pastels, gouache, acrylics, and colored pencils, evoke the feelings and motion of the story. The softness and blur of hues capture the visual effects of a snowstorm. Snow swirls around the boy and pelts his face, giving a vivid sense of movement as he glides and spins on his sled, and then, stillness, as he lies on the ground, a big smile on his face and snow covering him like a fleecy blanket. Patches of colors throughout -- the childs clothes, his rosy cheeks, his yellow sled -- brighten the white and gray snowy backgrounds. The oranges and browns of the final scene radiate the warmth of the kitchen and the hot chocolate the child shares with his mother. Pair this with Keatss The Snowy Day (rev. 2/63) to share the joys of winter with the very young. celia c. prez (c) Copyright 2016. 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 child narrates a day spent playing in the snow in this collaboration between a Japanese-American author and Japanese illustrator. From the very first sentence"It's snowing!"Kaneko nails the unbridled excitement of a preschooler who wakes up to snowfall. Saito captures the child from the rear, his smudgy illustration offering readers a view dominated by one spectacular case of bed head, hair spiking every which way in a visual reinforcement of the child's glee. Per Mommy's instruction ("bundle up and have fun"), the child plunges into the snow with a yellow plastic sled. Each declarative sentence encapsulates the child's simple, unfeigned wonder: "The snow is light and fluffy"; "Look! I've found an icicle." The child weathers an unexpected spin on the sled but proclaims, "I'm all right." The wind picks up; the child goes back inside for a cup of hot chocolate with Mommy. Working with oil pastels, gouache, acrylics, and colored pencil, Saito creates tableaux characterized by thick, soft lines, comfortably rounded shapes, and warm colorsthere's hardly a hint of black or gray, and soft blobs of pink suggest cherry blossoms, further sweetening the mood. This child is not Peter on an urban odyssey; the adventure appears to take place entirely within the confines of the child's backyard. Though Mommy is nearby, she gives the child, who has recognizably East Asian features, space for delicious independence. Thrillingly cozy. (Picture book. 2-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
