SNOW MUCH FUN!

Three animal friends enjoy winter activities such as sledding, skating, and ice hockey as well as baking cookies and creating garlands of popcorn and apple slices for birds.

The anthropomorphic characters are a white bear named Berry, a beige squirrel named Ginger, and a timid, pale blue bunny named Willow. The bear and squirrel are excited to play outdoors in the snow, but Willow prefers staying indoors with cocoa and marshmallows. Berry and Ginger encourage Willow, and she finds she enjoys ice hockey when she scores a goal. Intriguing photographic illustrations use small fabric sculptures for the animals with tiny props and relevant costumes such as felt skates and knitted sweaters and hats. The animals are photographed in miniature scenes of snowy outdoor settings and inside the cozy, pink house the friends share. A loosely rhyming text uses different rhyme schemes on each page, with evocative rhyming word pairs describing the activities of the animals. The language includes rich vocabulary such as “squooshed,” “whoosh,” “whirling,” and “shimmering,” and a running gag uses puns with the word “snow” substituted for “so” as in the title.

This tale of friends enjoying wintry activities at home and out in the snowy world is downright charming.