Snow Scene

At first glance, this is the simplest of books for very young children. Short questions, many just two or three words long, are posed, with answers provided by turning the page. The art often gives hints (on the far right of each double-page spread) of what is to come, revealed after the page-turn, and the rhyming text sets up patterns to help with those predictions. "What are these?" [page-turn] "Trees. And those?" [page-turn] "Shadows. Of crows." Portions of Seeger's paintings are thick with impasto paint, while other areas are scraped or rubbed down to show the canvas and underpainting, alternately hiding and revealing. Two children appear throughout the book, first in a winter forest of birch trees, then a snowy field, then rolling hills. Eventually, the snow melts and the season changes to spring, summer, and finally fall. The entire book appears to be painted as if it were one long panorama spanning not just space but time. In the final spread, the children look at a distant mountain capped with snow. The text reads, "And will you look at that?" / "Winter's hat!" So yes, it really is one continuous scene that begins and ends with snow. Clever! On one nighttime spread, the black text is a bit difficult to see on the dark background. But that's a small glitch within a book that should keep children thinking and noticing long after the initial guessing game has been completed. lolly Robinson