When Will the Snow Trees Grow?

By celebrating all the changes that autumn brings to the land, a bear passes on his knowledge about the cycles of life to a young boy as they each prepare for their own separate winter

PreSchool-K-A boy and a bear-occasionally joined by a white cat-enjoy a colorful autumn as they anticipate the coming winter. Shecter describes the physical manifestations of the season and paints them in glowing fall colors- the sky reflects the golds of cornshocks; sunlight slants through windows; pumpkins progress from vivid orange in the fields to the darker browns of pies; falling leaves echo the same changes. The two friends set their summer clothes aside in favor of sweaters and coats and give up lemonade for hot chocolate. On the last page, the bear is seen in his winter den, asleep at last. Page-filling paintings face the text in large letters in a satisfying design. A beautiful addition to the canon of seasons/concept books.
Ruth Semrau, Lovejoy School, Allen, TX
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 4-6. A young boy can hardly wait for winter to begin, but his friend, a brown bear, shows him how all things must begin in their own time. "When will the snow trees grow?" the boy asks. "After the pumpkins are harvested, and the leaves change color. . . . When the pumpkins are turned to pie." The evocative text continues as the bear brings out warm quilts from the closet and reads stories in front of the fireplace. Shecter makes some wonderful observations: Winter will come when "cold lemonade doesn't taste as sweet," but his pictures are not quite as good as his text. Though the naive-style art, done in autumnal shades, has a cozy charm, the boy and the bear are sometimes stiff, even awkward. Despite that distraction (which may bother adults more than kids), this small book has much to recommend it. Children old enough to feel the yearning that autumn brings will respond to the mystery of the seasons explained in their own terms. Ilene Cooper