SNOWED IN
by Barbara M. Lucas & illustrated by Catherine Stock
Like MacLachlan's Three Names, an evocative picture of schooling on the prairies a few generations back. Grace and Luke's family prepare for the coming snow by stocking up on paper, pencils, and library books; once they're snowed in, Father helps the children with numbers, Mother checks their writing, and everyone sings, shares riddles, and reads, often aloud. The winter's schooling is portrayed as pure pleasure, but when spring comes the children (like MacLachlan's boy) are happy to return to their school and friends in town. The simpler narrative here is especially well served by Stock's watercolors, strongly evoking the mountain-encircled prairies and such scenes as a well-stocked library warmed by a cast-iron stove or a one-room school of the early 1900's. (Picture book. 4-8)