SNOW

It has been snowing continuously for a whole month. When it finally stops, “trees and houses disappeared / shovelers and plows appeared.” Sammy emerges from his house, climbs a snow mountain and imagines what could be beneath the white peaks and cliffs. From a big black bear and her cubs in a cave, to a wooly mammoth, to ruby- and emerald-mining dwarves and elves, to moles drinking ice-cream sodas, Sammy climbs and conjures a new dream each day. When the warm sunshine finally melts all but a small island of snow, Sammy imagines a new vision of grass. Mixed-media watercolor-ink-oil-charcoal paintings in soft wintry blues illuminate a lackluster story of a young child’s playful fantasy and way of coping with a long dormant frosty season. (Picture book. 3-5)