The First Snow - Hardcover

Christiana, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0590228552 ISBN 13: 9780590228558

Publisher: Scholastic, 1996

Synopsis

A tale of the first snowfall follows the childhood of Mother Nature, who likes only warm weather, until gentle Winter wraps her in a soft and beautiful blanket of crystals that falls from the sky.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 3. Christiana takes readers back to a time when the world was new and Mother Nature a young child. She loves Summer with her warm, green breezes and is quite upset when she finds her packing to give Winter his turn. The girl finds many ways to turn Winter and the blustery Wind away, but Winter has a sage counselor in the great polar bear, Aunt Arctica, who finally suggests that he try a gentle approach to win the child's acceptance. After a few failures, he creates a soft, white blanket to warm her, and Mother Nature discovers that she likes Winter and his first snow. Unfortunately, the denouement is a bit of an anticlimax, and the final joke, Mother Nature throwing the first snowball at Winter, will be lost with the dustcover, as it appears on the back. The pencil, watercolor, and gouache artwork, however, is glorious. With an amazing array of page layouts, Christiana's work conveys a sense of continuous motion. Leaves blow in and out of view, and Wind bursts through frames. Summer's scenes are brightly lit with verdant greens and warm golden tones, while Winter's realm is portrayed in cool blues that will make readers shiver along with Mother Nature. All in all, a visual treat.?Jeanne Clancy Watkins, Upper Merion Township Library, King of Prussia, PA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A fable about the seasons, featuring a doll-like Mother Nature as a child who wants ``Summer to stay with her forever.'' The rebuffed Winter, a little boy, retreats, wondering why the little girl doesn't like him; urged by Aunt Arctica to win her over, he buries the little girl in fallen leaves and when she emerges into the cold, she freezes. ``Now you might think that Winter would have been delighted'' (at freezing a waif?), but he whips up a blanket from soft white crystals that fall from the sky ``like angel's tears.'' Young Mother Nature is warm enough to appreciate her first snowfall. Christiana (A Tooth Fairy's Tale, 1994, etc.) renders his fine paintings with sweeping lines and muted colors, but he seems to start with a story about why there are four seasons (instead of two) and leaves readers adrift in only three. While there are elements of fancy to which children will respond, this is a synthetic concoction. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scholastic
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0590228552
• ISBN 13: 9780590228558
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 29