When Snow Lay Soft on the Mountains

Dreaming of the beautiful porcelain doll in the window of Grover's store, young Hallie never expects that her wish for the doll will come true, especially when Papa falls ill. By the author of Mama, Let's Dance.

Kindergarten-Grade 3. Snow has the ingredients of a top-notch picture book?beautiful watercolors and a heartwarming story?but it doesn't live up to expectations. Hallie collects "wishing stones" from a stream to line the path by her mountain home, but must sacrifice her secret wish when her father becomes ill. Unfortunately, she is almost too sweet, making it difficult to feel empathy for her. Today's readers might have a hard time relating to a girl who's pining away for a china doll's head. Also, the time and place, other than the fact that it's in a mountain area, are never clearly established. Hallie's age is never revealed. In some of the illustrations she appears to be around 7 years old; in others she looks to be 10 or so. A lovely, but flawed effort.?Mollie Bynum, formerly at Chester Valley Elementary School, Anchorage, AK
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Steeped in almost sugary sweetness, Hermes's (On Winter's Wind) first picture book gains its momentum from her inspired turns of phrase and Baker's (Honkers; Looking for Angels) soft, intimate watercolors. Hallie and her father, figures from an indistinct rural past, have a close relationship, making wishes on their moonlit walks while "above them, stars hung so low they seemed to tangle in the branches of the cottonwood tree." But he falls ill and for several months Hallie must take care of him. She is lonely but selfless, and her devotion is eventually rewarded with the fulfillment of her greatest, always unvoiced wish: a doll with a china head. Baker's winter-hued illustrations, particularly the nighttime scenes of coyote pups or rabbits bathed in lavender light, are as calm and quiet as snowfall. They stress Hallie's resilience: where the text describes a Christmas without any presents, the art shows the girl stoically hanging up paper ornaments. Even with its treacly ending, this offering should satisfy readers in the mood for an old-fashioned moral tale. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Hermes (On Winter's Wind, 1995, etc.), in her first picture book effort, pens a sweet and sentimental tale that glows with Baker's radiant watercolors. Hallie walks with her father in the moonlight when spring is so close that she ``could feel its breath in her hair.'' They catch glimpses of wildlife, and Hallie tells him her wishes, but keeps one wish to herself. Papa becomes ill that fall, and Hallie's Aunt Belle, a quilter, comes to care for him: Christmas holds no wishes that year. But when spring and Hallie's March birthday come around, the doll she had secretly longed for appears on her bed, wrapped in one of Aunt Belle's quilts. And Papa is well enough to walk a bit that evening. Baker fills the pages with luminous shades of lavender, periwinkle, and silver grey: People, animals, household items, and landscape are rendered with a full and lively line. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.