All You Need for a Snowman - Hardcover

Alice Schertle

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 015200789X ISBN 13: 9780152007898

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers, 2002

Synopsis

One small snowflake fluttering down--
That's all you need for a snowman.

Or is it? In these pages, an exuberant crew is summoned to create a snowman of heroic proportions. Starting with the very first flake, Alice Schertle's clever and energetic rhyming text details the steps these little sculptors take to create a chilly chum. Barbara Lavallee's bold and lively illustrations overflow with brisk winter energy.
Snow, colorful clothes, and a dash of the miraculous combine to shape a winter experience that is both familiar and fantastic.

About this title

About the Author:

ALICE SCHERTLE is a well-known poet with many picture books to her credit, including William and Grandpa, which won the Christopher Award. She lives in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.

BARBARA LAVALLEE is best known for illustrating Mama, Do You Love Me?, which won a Golden Kite Award. She lives in Anchorage, Alaska.

From Publishers Weekly:

While this deceptively simple book starring children building a snowman is ultimately about community-how human beings, no matter how small, can help each other create something bigger than themselves-youngsters will find the lilting language and action-filled illustrations to be just plain fun. Schertle's (How Now, Brown Cow?) text deftly describes what goes into making a snowman: "Billions of snowflakes/ piled in a mound,/ pat them/ and pack them/ and roll them/ around/ into one big ball." Her refrain-"That's all you need for a snowman. Except..."-encourages readers to turn the page for each new component. The watercolors, meanwhile, feature children in padded winter jackets who work together. As in childhood, the snowman looms larger than life. As they roll that "one big ball," for example, the children appear to be hugging the edge of a snow-white planet. They place saucer-size bottle caps on the snowman's face-"Surprise!/ Snowman's eyes!"-and add a broom taller than a house. The completed snowman is so huge that the book needs to be turned sideways to view it. Lavallee's illustrations, in the style of her work in Mama, Do You Love Me?, emphasize the children's profiles, shadowing one half of each face as if each character possessed both light and dark skin. A wintertime treat. Ages 2-5.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 015200789X
• ISBN 13: 9780152007898
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Barbara Lavallee