Community Snowman

Written by Deborah Kerbel

Illustrated by Tine Modeweg-Hansen

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-951-7

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

October 2025 

 

There's snow out there and loads more coming. Whether it's in a yard, in a park, or in a schoolyard, there will be snow persons being built. (Actually, there will be snowmen, snow women, snow friends, snow dinosaurs, snow bears, and more.) And what's better than building a snow person? It's building it with others.

From Community Snowman, written by Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Tine Modeweg-Hansen

After an ordinary night of sleep, a child awakens groggily to their routines. But when they look out the winter, everything changes from ordinary to amazing because the world outside is coated with deep, fluffy snow. Soon it's a race to get dressed and bundled up and head outside with their caregiver, perhaps a grandfather, following with similar enthusiasm, albeit a little more slowly and carrying a satchel with his knitting. So, as the child make snowballs and snow angels and starts making a snowman, their grandfather clears a bit of bench and gets to his sock knitting.

From Community Snowman, written by Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Tine Modeweg-Hansen

All around people are bustling. Some trudge through the snow, heads down, oblivious to the snow joy in this child and in other children. Maybe they're going to work or to school, or walking their dogs, or going for groceries. But our child is busy too. Now they are starting to build a snowman. The bottom ball is always easy because you just roll it in to place. But the next ball, still large and needing to be lifted, is far more challenging, especially when another kid throws our child off balance with a snowball. No worries. He comes to help them. Two children then become three children at work and then a couple of teens join in to create the three-ball shape. 

From Community Snowman, written by Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Tine Modeweg-Hansen

Now everyone gets in on the creation, with food stuffs like a pickle, chocolates, and bagels being added, and then with bits and bobs of clothing: a hat, work gloves, a shawl, and earmuffs. Everyone contributes something. But what does a man without a coat, socks, or gloves have to give? A poppy.

 

Without words, Deborah Kerbel tells a story of a community coming together to build a snowman and building kindness and compassion. It's a powerful story of how a small thing can become a meaningful moment. What's starts as play leads to friendship, to acceptance, and to benevolence. That's tough to get all that into a story that is wordless. But, with Deborah Kerbel as the storyteller, I'm not surprised by the strength of her story to draw her readers in, touch them, and make them feel the fellowship of the moment. But Tine Modeweg-Hansen, a Copenhagen-born illustrator who lives in Montreal, gives Deborah Kerbel's story the life of colour and community. In watercolour and ink, Tine Modeweg-Hansen's art, very reminiscent of the award-winning Quentin Blake, fills in those words with activity and detail. The cold and the wetness of the snow, the movement of the characters, human and animal, and the diversity of people makes the story spirited. Everyone and everything becomes part of a story that could only be described as feel-good.

 

At this time of year, with snow on the ground and holiday cheer ringing out, let's remember that community can come together spontaneously and with the greatest of heart without the giving of expensive gifts or conspicuous charity. It can happen naturally from a child's delight with snow and not overlooking those who might need help, whether it's lifting a ball of snow or providing a pair of socks.

From Community Snowman, written by Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Tine Modeweg-Hansen

It Snowed

Written and illustrated by Meaghan Smith

Nimbus Publishing

978-1-77471-413-3

32 pp.

Ages 3–7

November 2025 

 

In my part of the country, many children (and adults) woke up today to a winter wonderland. And that wonder is captured in the text and art of Meaghan Smith in It Snowed.

 

From It Snowed, written and illustrated by Meaghan Smith

Two young children wake up to find that it snowed in the night. They are delighted, along with their dog and maybe their cat, to see deep drifts of snow have coated the yard and the road. When their parents suggest a day to play hooky, they bundle up and go sledding. 

How merry

    How bright

A snowfall turns the 

     world into a lovely sight (pp. 20–21) 

When the day ends, and after an evening by the fireside, the children head to bed after wishing on a star for, you guessed it, another snow day.

From It Snowed, written and illustrated by Meaghan Smith

Meaghan Smith may be the author-illustrator of It Snowed but she's also the award-winning singer-songwriter who wrote the song titled "It Snowed." (You can listen to different versions of her song on her YouTube channel.) That song, and now this picture book, capture children's joy of a snow day when it's all about the promise of play in the snow. It's about being outside the whole day, overlooking the cold, and only coming inside to warm up, eat, and then get ready for bed. It's a special time and the stuff of memories.

 

The rhyming text points to its derivation from a song, but Meaghan Smith's illustrations give it a new dimension, one of softness and of sensation. Those children, and even their pets and wildlife, remind us that snow gives us a different world. It can be one of ordinary play, but it can also be one of magic. And Meaghan Smith's art sparkles just as snow does.

From It Snowed, written and illustrated by Meaghan Smith

We'll have many more days of snow ahead—apparently we're in for more cold and snow this winter—so it'll be a perfect opportunity to bring out It Snowed to read and to sing after a day of play and perhaps after enjoying a hot chocolate and a fire. It'll be a treat for bedtime and to spark some delightful dreams about yet another snow day.

Snow Day

Words by Lindsay Gloade-Raining Bird

Illustrated by Ashley Thimot

Nimbus Publishing

978-1-77471-311-2

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

November 2024

 

Most of Canada is currently under a blanket of snow and we can anticipate that somewhere sometime within the next several months, children will be enjoying a snow day when schools are closed, vehicles are asked to stay off the roads, and snowplows and shovels are busy at work. 

From Snow Day, written by Lindsay Gloade-Raining Bird, illustrated by Ashley Thimot

For this Indigenous child, the day starts with the quiet that comes from a street laden with snow and bereft of motion except from the softly-falling snow. But then she's outside, bundled up and exuberant with the promise of play and a day without school. In rhyming text, writer Lindsay Gloade-Raining Bird follows the child as she slips and slides, giggles and wiggles, and stomps and plods alongside her pup.

 

As her mom begins the task of digging out her car and shovelling the driveway, the child and her dog imagine tea parties and caterpillars made of snow. (Illustrator Ashley Thimot indicates imagined elements with red inked items as in the illustration below.)

From Snow Day, written by Lindsay Gloade-Raining Bird, illustrated by Ashley Thimot

She rolls through the snow as her mom scoops it up

making snowflake tea with her hands like a cup.

 

She offers some to puppy: "One lump or two?

A little bit for me and a little bit for you."

And after a fun day of play, there's the familiar doffing of the multiple layers of clothing to hang to dry, a warm hot chocolate, and the sharing with her parents and baby brother, before heading to bed to anticipate more fun the next day.

The ground is new,

a fresh page for her pen

 

And if she's lucky

tomorrow

she can do it all again.

From Snow Day, written by Lindsay Gloade-Raining Bird, illustrated by Ashley Thimot

Reminiscent of Ezra Jack Keats's classic The Snowy Day, Lindsay Gloade-Raining Bird depicts the familiar joy of a child experiencing a day of snow and freedom to play. But by making her text rhyming and focusing her story on an Indigenous family, Lindsay Gloade-Raining Bird, a mixed Cree writer from Nova Scotia, gives us a different kind of story. It's still about the wonder of play and snow but there's a rhythm to it that carries it along from early-morning quiet to tucked-into-bed calm and all the boisterous and imaginative play in between.
 

Edmonton artist Ashley Thimot gets that quiet of a snow day right, but also capably depicts the cold the child ultimately feels, from her rosy cheeks and toque pulled down, and the relief of warmth in the house as she reveals her snow-day hair–her mom also has hat head!–and starts laying out wet clothing to dry. The snow is cold and textured and wet–evident in footprints left behind– and the dog is joyous and sodden. It's a true snow day.

 

As lovely as Ezra Jack Keats's story is, let's get excited about another snow day book but this one from Canada to show what we experience as children, and as adults with children, when those few snows days occur, and the world is a little different and open to new possibilities for play.

One Giant Leap

Written and illustrated by Thao Lam

Owlkids Books

978-1-77147-599-0

48 pp.

Ages 3-7

March 2024

 

Getting a child dressed, especially in winter, is akin to the prep required to outfit an astronaut. Each step must follow another to ensure coverage, safety, and fit. But when you're venturing out into that wide world of possibilities, it's best to be prepared.

From One Giant Leap, written and illustrated by Thao Lam

Zippers pulled up on a suit, boots tugged onto feet, gloves wrenched on, and a hat stretched down low on a forehead are just the first steps of venturing outside. But as the child is transported in an elevator to the 1st floor, an imaginative transformation occurs. What was a child in a snowsuit is now an astronaut in a spacesuit. So, when they finally venture outside, it isn't into the snow, it's onto the moon.

From One Giant Leap, written and illustrated by Thao Lam

Everything now is an exploration of a new land of shapes and structures. There's climbing and falling, searching and anticipating, and following footsteps. Are those aliens or something else? Is there peril? Can they communicate? Should they? What should they say?

From One Giant Leap, written and illustrated by Thao Lam

Can the astronaut reach their destination and fulfill their mission? Only by following their trek across barren landscapes of inhospitable structures and unusually-garbed creatures can readers even know whether they make it to...the coatroom at school.

As a wordless picture book, One Giant Leap has a story that is driven by the cut-paper collage of Thao Lam's artwork. The story which is immense comes from the reader seeing and interpreting the visuals. Is that a rocket launch pad or an apartment elevator? Are those aliens or children in colourful snowsuits? Are those buildings or mountains, man-made structures or lunar landforms? Vietnamese-Canadian author-illustrator Thao Lam, known for her complex and meaningful books including The Paper Boat: A Refugee Story and The Line in the Sand, still knows how to do playful. Dressing in a snowsuit and venturing out into the greater universe, this child embarks on an other-worldly adventure, fueled only by imagination. What they experience is all up to them, and Thao Lam lets us see what they see. It's a textured landscape of dull grays and blacks, with only a dash of colour from an orange spacesuit or when other bizarre creatures appear. But in that lunar landscape, it is all about starkness, with the energy provided only through the child's imagination.

From One Giant Leap, written and illustrated by Thao Lam

Whether stepping onto an unknown space body or onto a frozen city street, it's a giant leap of daring that must come from within. It's knowing what to expect and never knowing what could be found. For this little one, it's One Giant Leap into inventiveness and creative thought, and it looks like they had a great flight.

Song for the Snow

Written by Jon-Erik Lappano

Illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-268-6

44 pp.

Ages 3-6

September 2021

 

Here in our northern climate of Canada, we can almost always be assured of snow sometime in the winter season. One year may vary from the next in terms of snow load and snow type–fluffy or wet–but we know that in most places in Canada, snow will come. But what if it didn't?

From Song for the Snow by Jon-Erik Lappano, illus. by Byron Eggenschwiler

Freya loves the snow. She dreams of it and anticipates its return come winter. But it has been two years since the weather has been cold enough for the snow to come to her town and her memories of it are beginning to fade. 

Maybe the snow is lost, she thought.

At the market, where everyone is dressed in light jackets and sweaters and definitely no snow boots, Freya hears a tune that draws her to a trinket table with a woman holding a beautiful snow globe. She tells Freya that the song is very old and special, once sung every winter to call the snow home. Then she gifts Freya with the snow globe.

From Song for the Snow by Jon-Erik Lappano, illus. by Byron Eggenschwiler

At home, her mother recalls the tune and sings her the words her grandmother once sang.

"Come home snow," she sang.

"Fall from high...

cover the trees and fill the sky..."

From Song for the Snow by Jon-Erik Lappano, illus. by Byron Eggenschwiler

For days, Freya sings for the snow to come but there is still no snow. She fears it may be too far away or perhaps she isn't singing it right. Then she wonders if more voices are needed and she enlists the help of her classmates to spread the song.

As they sang, distant memories of cozy, snow-filled nights returned to their parents.

And those parents hum the tune as they go about their days, spreading the song into homes and hearts. What happens next is the stuff of legends.

Young readers may anticipate the ending for Song for the Snow but it is no less gratifying, especially for young Freya whose calling it was to bring the snow home. Her connection with snow drew her to the globe and sharing the song, all of which resulted–or did it?–in the return of the snow. Whether it is to be believed by readers or not, it happened, and Jon-Erik Lappano's telling of this fable makes it real. It tells children that it's possible to dream and to wish for things hard enough to make them come true. (I wouldn't be surprised if there are little ones out there who will want to know the tune so they can sing it when they too want the snow to return.) Jon-Erik Lappano tells the story like a recount, a tale passed down, like the song, through generations to remind young readers that they have the capacity to change things. In our tenuous environmental circumstances, Song for the Snow is a lovely push for children to do what they can to make the world the one they want. And it's told so tenderly, never harsh or in your face. Like a blanket of snow, it coats its message of caring action with patience and perseverance and connection.

The artwork by Byron Eggenschwiler gives Song for the Snow a Scandinavian feel from Freya's knitted sweater to the cable-knit feathers of herself as a dream bird. In fact, the art is very reminiscent of Jan Brett's winter tales, perfect for important messages and a cold landscape. Byron Eggenschwiler's digital illustrations are subdued and yet robust in their somberness, infused with a darkness of wishes unfulfilled with only flakes of lightness for the music and snow.

Whether you already have snow on the ground or are only wishing for it, Song for the Snow will give hope that wishing with action can make dreams come true. Freya proved it.

I Found Hope in a Cherry Tree

Written by Jean E. Pendziwol

Illustrated by Nathalie Dion

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-220-4

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

September 2020

With spring on the horizon and hope finally blooming, I can't think of a better time to review Jean E. Pendziwol's latest picture book, I Found Hope in a Cherry Tree, illustrated by Montreal's Nathalie Dion.

Who needs toys when you have the natural world as a play thing and mate? First, a little girl, with her beautiful Siamese cat, finds joy in the shadows created by sunshine pouring in through a window or a skylight.

From I Found Hope in a Cherry Tree by Jean E. Pendziwol, illus. by Nathalie Dion

Though she recognizes that they might only stay around for a short time–maybe minutes, maybe days–or even disappear, she knows the shadows will always come back.

From I Found Hope in a Cherry Tree by Jean E. Pendziwol, illus. by Nathalie Dion

When the child and cat head outside where...

I can hear the wind tell stories,

whispering

to the trees

making them

laugh and sigh.

...there is new play to be had. The weather and the natural world can bring quiet stories that whisper or dance, or rush through. And when in her bed, beneath a red blanket worn as a cape, when the stories creep in to nibble her toes, she's the one to tell the stories.

Bundled up in her colourful coat, red boots, and woolens, she imagines the snowflakes as bringing the flavour of clouds, even when icy and sharp. Though everything, whether shadows, stories or snowflakes, can have a downside, there is always hope.

But the cherry tree

knows this:

it is hope in autumn

that brings

flowers in spring.

From I Found Hope in a Cherry Tree by Jean E. Pendziwol, illus. by Nathalie Dion

There may be hope in the buds of the cherry tree but it's everywhere in Jean E. Pendziwol's story. It's in the shadow that changes shape and size, and can disappear but always comes back; in the wild stories that can be tamed; and in the snowflakes that can prickle and freeze but delight. Jean E. Pendziwol makes this child's imaginative play a wholly sensory experience of insight and appreciation for her world, even when unpredictable or ambiguous. And it's the hope for better or more or even the same goodness that enriches her play.

 

I know that Nathalie Dion has illustrated many picture books, including French-language ones, but this is my first for review and  I Found Hope in a Cherry Tree begs me to add her to my 2021 listings of Canadian illustrators of note. (Listings were already posted in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.) Her art, a mix of traditional and digital paintings, then cut, transformed and manipulated in Photoshop, has an ethereal quality to it that suggests much of the play is in the child's head, not in her feet and hands. Even in the darkness of late-night storytelling, Nathalie Dion suggests a lightness of message with a child immersed in thought and perception.

Play can be more than activity. It can be in the soul that sees beyond the doing, the now, the ephemeral. It can be in the hope of possibilities and Jean E. Pendziwol and Nathalie Dion help us see this in I Found Hope in a Cherry Tree.

Snow Song

 

Written by A. K. Riley

Illustrated by Dawn Lo

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0235-0

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

October 2020

Looking outside on my own snow-covered landscape, I am reminded how varied this frozen precipitation can appear and feel and impact our lives. How snow is perceived is so dependent on experience and age and community and the attributes of the snow itself. While the cover of Snow Song suggests a playful story of the joys of being outside in the snow with friends, this picture book is so much more. It is a sensory experience of words and art, contemplative and serene, as well as playful and dynamic, and Snow Song is accordingly a lyrical exposé of being in a new place and finding a commonality through snow.

From Snow Song by A. K. Riley, illus. by Dawn Lo

Though A. K. Riley's evocative free verse speaks to the snow and its movement and form, Dawn Lo shows the reader a child who has just moved into a new home, boxes still to be unloaded and unpacked. Dressed in beret and scarf and green jacket, we accompany her from her new front stoop, down the street and to a park with woodland, pond, playground and more, within a world of snow.

Fine pearls of snow

Then a twirl of snow.

Around the eaves

A curl of snow.

From Snow Song by A. K. Riley, illus. by Dawn Lo

The words are all about the snow, the feel of the snow and the shape of the snow. The snow becomes the focus and the background. It's everything. It gives the child the context for making new friends and familiarizing herself with her new world, whether from outside and around her to inside and looking out.

So soft the snow,

Froths the snow

Upon the trees

And spangled streams –

Up to my knees!

From Snow Song by A. K. Riley, illus. by Dawn Lo

Snow Song may be A. K. Riley's debut children's book but her finesse with words is exceptional. While many newbie children's authors overload their stories with text, A. K. Riley is frugal with her words, packing immense power and sensation in them. Her words convey the visual, the auditory, the tactile and more of snow, giving the child voice and the reader consciousness. Similarly, artist Dawn Lo uses gouache, pencil crayons and Photoshop to create a fusion of colours and textures, taking the reader and the child from indoors through both urban and wilder landscapes, all in the pursuit of the snow experience. Still, feeling anomalous in her new environs, the child is tethered to her past and present through the snow, giving her a naturalness of action and feeling to pursue the newness of her situation. That familiarity instils boldness and ease.

I hope there is snow in your life and the freedom to experience it. Regardless, Snow Song will guide you with its own snow and the freshness of life that comes with it through the words of A. K. Riley and the art of Dawn Lo.

Two Drops of Brown in a Cloud of White

Written by Saumiya Balasubramaniam

Illustrated by Eva Campbell

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-258-7

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

October 2020

While there are many, many wonderful books about winter and snow and the experiences with both, Two Drops of Brown in a Cloud of White reminds us that those interactions are not the same for all of us. They are distinct for the young who long to play in the snow, for the fortunate to have shelter from the it, for those familiar and acclimatized to it, and for those who must endure it. When a child and her mother walk home from school, the distinction of their attitudes to the snow is evident. Fortunately, their affection for the other helps them appreciate both perspectives.

From Two Drops of Brown in a Cloud of White by Saumiya Balasubramaniam, illus. by Eva Campbell

As a girl revels in the snow and ice of their walk home, her mother displays an overabundance of caution and even scorn for winter's elements. "Watch out for black ice" and "Do as you like" are just a few of her protestations as the child glides on the ice and makes footprints in the snow. The child sees ice cream in her snowball and makes snow people while Ma tucks herself deeper into her royal-blue scarf and wishes for the sun.

From Two Drops of Brown in a Cloud of White by Saumiya Balasubramaniam, illus. by Eva Campbell

But they really aren't that different. The girl knows that her mother loves colour–"So much snow," says Ma. "So monochromatic"–but so does she. She sees their cat, Kitty, in the grey cloud with blue spots for eyes; she is charmed by the rainbow of colours that are scattered by her mother's diamond on her nose; and she sees the brown of maple syrup in the dry leaves. 

From Two Drops of Brown in a Cloud of White by Saumiya Balasubramaniam, illus. by Eva Campbell

Still by the time they reach home, they can both see the colour of themselves as two drops of brown in a cloud of white snow.

Author Saumiya Balasubramaniam was inspired by her own winter walks with her daughter to write Two Drops of Brown in a Cloud of White. If the story reflects her own experiences, then it's evident that their two perspectives which may have started out as different–not unusual as they would have different life experiences–ultimately converge, with an appreciation for their differences and acceptance of their similarities.  Two drops of brown would contrast significantly with the whiteness of the snow but they are still similar to each other. As such, Two Drops of Brown in a Cloud of White definitely speaks to diversity of perspective, of people, and of time and place.

From Two Drops of Brown in a Cloud of White by Saumiya Balasubramaniam, illus. by Eva Campbell

 

To tell promote both the realism and sentimentalism of the story, Eva Campbell's oil and pastel on canvas illustrations use boldness of colour, even for the snow, but also a softness of stroke. By emphasizing both the realistic and the poetic, Eva Campbell evokes an authentic mother-daughter interaction but also the romance of the snow and their relationship. They may see themselves as two drops of brown in a cloud of white but they are more. They are blue with cold and red with love and it's also courtesy of Eva Campbell's art.

Snow may be cold but Saumiya Balasubramaniam and Eva Campbell's Two Drops of Brown in a Cloud of White creates the warmth of family and acceptance.

Snow Days

Written by Deborah Kerbel

Illustrated by Miki Sato

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-135-9

24 pp.

Ages 2-5

November 2020

In modest rhyming text and textured paper-collage artwork, Deborah Kerbel and Miki Sato invite young children and their families to join them outdoors to celebrate and explore the snow of winter.

From Snow Days by Deborah Kerbel, illus. by Miki Sato

First snow, surprise snow:

Nature's sparkly magic show

Deborah Kerbel begins her story with the delight of children taking in the first snow of the season. With arms upraised and mouths agape, perhaps to catch a few of Miki Sato's extraordinary snowflakes, the warmly-dressed children revel in the splendour of the snow. Of course, in Canada, there will be more snow days, and the next brings a little more that accumulates and allows for snow angels, both of the two-legged and four-legged varieties.

From Snow Days by Deborah Kerbel, illus. by Miki Sato

There's skating and watching snow fall from the warmth of inside, shovelling and building snowmen, sliding down banks and throwing snowballs. And always,  Deborah Kerbel shines some attention on the different kinds of snow. Whether it be powder snow or packing snow, blizzard snow or Christmas snow–a particularly special kind– or even frozen snow and slush and sleet, Deborah Kerbel invites little ones to savour each as a sensory experience of touch and feel.

From Snow Days by Deborah Kerbel, illus. by Miki Sato

But winter always comes to an end.

Last snow, tame and shy,

Winter's quiet wave goodbye

With the receding snow allowing snowdrops and the first crocuses to shoot, Deborah Kerbel lets us see the turnover to the next season, resplendent in its own emerging glories.

Miki Sato's three-dimensional illustrations, created with cut-paper collage, reflects Deborah Kerbel's textured text, making us feel the iciness of packed snow and the dampness of mittens, amidst the piles of different snows. Just as each snow day is different, Miki Sato's children and landscapes are as varied and diverse. Who interacts with the snow are a few adults but mostly children of all ages, colours, and abilities, including a young child with skates on the wrong feet and one with glasses. As for the snow itself, it blankets parklands and backyards, congests driveways and brings Christmas to dense housing divisions.

 

With our own snow days upon us, enjoy Deborah Kerbel and Miki Sato's exploration in words and art and even consider the handful of experiments for very young children suggested at the end. It may be a little cold and get a little wet but the adventure will be worth it.

The Three Brothers

Written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
Groundwood Books
978-1-77306-377-5
40 pp.
Ages 4-8
September 2020

 

There's something magical about going on an adventure. It's looking for the amazing and finding it. For the three little boys in The Three Brothers, the adventure is all the more wonderful for being together. 

 

From The Three Brothers by Marie-Louise Gay

 

Three brothers–Finn, Leo and Ooley–enjoy their nightly adventure stories about animals in forests and other wild areas, and decide to go on their own expedition the next morning. After careful preparations that include warm clothes–Ooley wears his bear suit–lunches, binoculars and a compass, they discover a thick blanket of fresh snow, and add pie plates to their boots as snowshoes.

From The Three Brothers by Marie-Louise Gay

 

Though they see a few birds, they are desperate to see some animals i.e., mammals, and anticipate what every noise might mean.

The forest was still and empty. You could almost hear a snowflake fall.

"I thought I heard a growl," said Finn, "...or a howl...I know there are some animals around. I can almost see them. Can't you?"

As they ponder where the animals might be, the older and wiser Finn recalls their grandfather's words about how the weather may be forcing the animals to leave to find food and water, and Finn and Leo discuss those taking action against climate change, without ever using words like global warming or climate. 

After losing Ooley and discovering him in a hollowed-out tree trunk, the three boys find a creative way to experience the absentee animals by putting their maker hands and piles of snow to work.

From The Three Brothers by Marie-Louise Gay

Marie-Louise Gay, creator of Stella and Sam, has always brought the wonder of children and their imaginations to her picture books. It's the wonder of what might be, what is, and what it might mean. It's seeing with open eyes and hearts and witnessing the miracles of the world. These little boys imagine the animals that might be lurking, even when only reading the stories and visualizing a bear, or a wolf, or a raccoon also listening to the story. In the woods, Marie-Louise Gay adds white outlines of creatures like deer, porcupine and bear watching the children amidst the colour of their reality. The landscapes of these children are a dreamy blend of home and the imaginary and all the richer for having both. (There is a surprise at the end as the two worlds meet.)

Marie-Louise Gay's illustrations, which have garnered her numerous awards including several Governor General's Literary Awards, blends watercolour paint with pencil, coloured pencils, water-soluble wax crayons and opaque white ink to create the evocative art of The Three Brothers. Her media and artistry conjure the inquisitiveness of children, light and detailed, colourful and full. There is happiness and watchfulness about the world and themselves that reassures. I feel joyful from the three brothers' imaginative play and closeness, and look forward to a snowy day when all children may seek out their own adventures.

From The Three Brothers by Marie-Louise Gay

 

Small in the City

Written and illustrated by Sydney Smith

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-198-6

40 pp.

Ages 4-7

September 2019

On October 2, the Canada Council for the Arts announced its finalists for the 2019 Governor General's Literary Awards, and Small in the City was one of the nominated titles for the English-language children's book illustration. This is Sydney Smith's fourth nomination–he and JonArno Lawson won in 2015 for Sidewalk Flowers (Groundwood, 2015)–and this one is all the more distinct as Small in the City is his first picture book as author and illustrator.

From Small in the City by Sydney Smith

Though the cover makes a young child who looks out of a streetcar window larger than life, minimizing the buildings reflected in the glass, Sydney Smith's illustrations show a child peripheral to the city. They look out over the streets of people doing and buildings standing. When they leave the streetcar, they are dwarfed by everything in the busy city. People march past looking at their feet or their phones. Sounds of taxis and car horns and construction and sirens are loud and scary. It's almost too much.

From Small in the City by Sydney Smith

But as the child ventures through the cold streets and snowflakes begin to fall, they know how to be a part of that city. They know which alleys to avoid and wonderful places to hide or climb or enjoy the steam from a dryer vent. As they walk from the busyness into a neighbourhood of trees and yards, local stores and houses, and a park, this child gives advice about where safety can be found. Soon enough the reader will observe that the child has posted salmon-pink notices to posts and fences and doors. The child may be small in the city but a lost cat is even smaller. Still, with the flurries becoming snow squalls with near whiteout conditions, the child reaches home, convinced that "You will be all right."

From Small in the City by Sydney Smith

Sydney Smith's artwork, created with ink, watercolour and gouache, journeys with the child from a dark-toned city centre through neighbourhoods infused with colour to a home blanketed in the lightness of peace and contentment. It's a Toronto of commerce and community, movement and stability, and this child lives in it and of it. They may be small but they are not insignificant and as they walk closer and closer to home, their presence becomes more meaningful.

Being small in the city is a perspective most adults have forgotten. It's seeing the heart of the city as it is, free of interpretation and expectation but infused with perception. As such, Small in the City is a story of a child for children and most certainly for those who have ever lost a pet. This could have been a sad story of loss and fear but Sydney Smith makes it one of resilience and hope, expectation and common sense. It's seeing shelter and warmth, food and comfort where adults might only see trees and shrubs, a dryer vent, the fishmonger and a church ledge. It's perspective as perception that makes Small in the City effusive in community and family and takes the reader from the obscurity to the light of home with its happy ending.

Waiting for Snow

by Marsha Diane Arnold

Illustrated by Renata Liwska

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

978-0-544-41687-1

32 pp.

Ages 3-6

November 2016

Polish-born Calgary artist Renata Liwska may be the author-illustrator of her own picture books including the Governor General Award-nominated Red Wagon (Philomel Books, 2013) and Little Panda (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008), but she is best known for providing artwork for award-winning American writers such as Deborah Underwood (The Quiet Book, The Loud Book), Doreen Cronin (Boom Snot Twitty and Boom Snot Twitty This Way That Way), and Nina Laden (Once Upon a Memory).  In Waiting for Snow, Renata Liwska again provides the distinct landscape of art that takes Marsha Diane Arnold's words from story to showpiece.

From Waiting for Snow

by Marsha Diane Arnold 

illus. by Renata Liwska

Badger is desperate for snow to come.  He studies the sky, bangs pots and pans to wake it up, and follows his friends’ advice.  Rabbit recommends punching holes in the clouds with pebbles to allow the flakes to fall.  Vole suggests a snow dance. Possum proposes Badger wear his pajamas backwards.  His friends even use sugar to simulate snow when the winter flakes don’t appear.  But, just as Hedgehog in his cryptic way advises, the snow does come when it is time.

From Waiting for Snow 

by Marsha Diane Arnold 

illus. by Renata Liwska

Renata Liwska's pencil drawings coloured digitally effuse the story of childlike desperation with a tenderness and softness that materialize the animals from two-dimensional to stuffie.  Though you know that the fur of badgers and opossums may be more coarse in reality, Renata Liwska makes all her characters appear downy.  And her landscapes from outdoors to bedrooms and classrooms, both in daytime and night, are similarly relaxed and serene.  Waiting for Snow is for anyone who has ever waited for something or someone to come and been told that it will only happen in its own time.  It’s the old saying of a “watched pot never boils” acknowledging time as the truest measure of when something will happen.  No matter how much you crave it or are determined to make it happen, with snow dances or rituals or superstitions, time will be the determinant.