WHEN THE SNOW FALLS

A snowy afternoon prompts a sled ride back to town through the countryside for a grandmother visiting her family.

On the morning after Grandma’s sleepover, the blizzard results in a snow day, allowing the two young grandchildren to accompany Grandma to her town house via a homemade chair sled. Grandma is quite the strong, energetic elder as they make their way through the snowy woods and onto the busy, buried streets of her neighborhood. Two-word sentences in abcb rhyme patterns, one stanza per page, tell this seasonal story with a cadence that captures both the captivating beauty of a glistening wood and the snowy dunes of a blanketed city street. “When the snow falls…. // Woods hush. / Fields glisten. / Wren sings. / We listen”; “When the snow falls… / Trains toot. / Cars slow. / Plows push. / Mountains grow.” After everyone helps Grandpa, waiting back at home, to shovel and dig out, it’s time for sledding, snow angels, and snowmen in the park, followed by warm soup, cocoa, and cuddles. Digitally colored and assembled pencil drawings offer wintry rural and urban scenes in icy blues and whites. This mixed-race happy family’s enjoyment of all the fun and exertion a snowstorm bring spills from each double-page spread. Grandpa is the only white family member; everyone else has skin of varying shades of warm brown and tightly curled hair.

A heartwarming adventure rolls along in a delightful rhythmic verse.