Snowed in

In preparation for the long Wyoming winter of 1915, a family not only sets aside food and firewood for the coming months, but also stocks up on paper, pencils, and books to while away the long nights in their isolated log cabin.

Like MacLachlan's Three Names, an evocative picture of schooling on the prairies a few generations back. Grace and Luke's family prepare for the coming snow by stocking up on paper, pencils, and library books; once they're snowed in, Father helps the children with numbers, Mother checks their writing, and everyone sings, shares riddles, and reads, often aloud. The winter's schooling is portrayed as pure pleasure, but when spring comes the children (like MacLachlan's boy) are happy to return to their school and friends in town. The simpler narrative here is especially well served by Stock's watercolors, strongly evoking the mountain-encircled prairies and such scenes as a well-stocked library warmed by a cast-iron stove or a one-room school of the early 1900's. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 4-7. In 1915, the Wyoming range is wild and desolate. When the winter snows come, young Grace and her brother, Luke, are snowed in on the family farm. Thanks to the forethought of their father, they are ready for the long, dark months ahead. With boxes of library books, pencils, and paper, they are prepared to read, do sums, and draw pictures while they await the spring thaw that will allow them to return to the library, the school, and the town. Lucas' simple, nostalgic text is supported by old-fashioned watercolors in a soft palette of blues and greens. The panoramas of western scenery are more successful than the family groupings, but the book is still a smooth, painless way to lead primary-graders to American history--even if the presence of such a well-stocked library on the Wyoming frontier has to be viewed as poetic license. Janice Del Negro