Stella Queen of the Snow - Hardcover

Marie-Louise Gay

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1865083291 ISBN 13: 9781865083292

Publisher: Allen & Unwin, 2000

Synopsis

Winter was never so magical as in this marvelous book about Stella and Sam discovering a familiar landscape transformed by a heavy snowfall. Sam makes his very first snowstorm, and, as usual, he has lots of questions: Where do snowmen sleep? Can you eat a snowflake? Do snow angels sing? Older and bolder, Stella knows all the answers, and she delights in showing Sam the many pleasures of a beautiful winter’s day. Young readers are enchanted as Stella and Sam build a gigantic snowman, then they go skating and sledding and make beautiful snow angels in a fluffy, white, magical, and wondrous world.

About this title

Review:

It's Sam's first snowstorm and he has a lot of questions. "Is the snow cold? Can you eat a snowflake? Where does a snowman sleep? How many snowflakes are there in a snowball?" His big sister, Stella, has the answer to every question because she is very knowledgeable on the subject, being Queen of the Snow. "Polar bears eat snowflakes for breakfast," Stella informs Sam.

"With milk?" asks Sam.

"Yes," says Stella. "And sugar."

The two venture out into the white wonderland, exploring the tastes and textures of snowflakes and snowballs, the thrill of sledding ("I think I'll walk down," says Sam), and the magic of snow angels. Worldly Stella instructs her cautious little brother in all the ways of winter in the way only a big sister can.

Readers will be gratified at the return of Stella, Star of the Sea's adorable, true-to-life siblings. Popular award-winning author-illustrator Marie-Louise Gay has created another breathtakingly cute picture book about confident, carrot-top Stella and her earnest but uncertain little brother. Gay's watercolors of blackbirds on denuded tree branches, a brown pup wading through belly-deep snow, and the beaming siblings flailing their limbs to make snow angels are simply perfect. And her kid-dialogue is perfection squared. (Ages 3 to 7) --Emilie Coulter

From Booklist:

Ages 4-8. In this lovely story, inspired by lines from Longfellow's "The Song of Hiawatha," a young Chippewa girl asks the wah-wah-taysee (firefly) to "Reveal the secrets of this night, Wah-Wah-taysee, with your light" and guide her through the forest to home. As the sun sets, the firefly illuminates her path and that of the forest animals who join her, including the turtle, the muskrat, the bear, and the fawn. Safe in her cradle bed, surrounded by her guardian animals, the girl embraces sleep, asking the firefly to "fly into my dreams with me, Wah-Wah-taysee, Wah-Wah-taysee." Lyrical, rhyming stanzas are rhythmic and soothing; enchanting, luminous watercolor-and-pencil art, richly detailed, captures the magic and wonder of nature and its inhabitants. This book recalls Jonathan London's Fireflies, Fireflies, Light My Way (1996), but more identifiably reflects Native American traditions and beliefs, as it provides a gentle, reassuring lead-in to bedtime and sweet dreams. Shelle Rosenfeld
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Allen & Unwin
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1865083291
• ISBN 13: 9781865083292
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32