Showing posts with label Snowflakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Snowflakes. Show all posts

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Snowflakes Fall - Patricia MacLachlan

Illustrated by Steven Kellogg
2013, Random House
HC $17.99
24 pages
Goodreads:  4.07 (134 ratings)
My rating:  4.5

Endpapers:  Front:  Snow beginningto fall on a sun-gold autumn woods scene
Back:  a completely snow-covered field, moon above, snow still coming down - with snow angels turning into angels flying skyward....

Title Page:  Blue centered square with one BIG snowflake and the book title.

Illustrations:  EAch page of snowfall is just covered with snowflakes, all in Steven Kellogg's one-and-only style.

First line/s:
     "After the flowers are gone
      Snowflakes fall.
          Flake
               After flake
                    After flake
      Each one a pattern
     All its own
          No two the same---
          All beautiful."

My comments:  This is another lovely, feel-good book.  Combine Patricia MacLachlan's wonderful voice and Steven Kellogg's touching, classic illustrations....along with having a percentage of proceeds going to the Sandy Hook Support Fund...and you have a super winner!  "Snowflakes fall/ To quilt meadows/ So we see the wandering prints/ Of birds/ Rabbits/ The bobcat at dawn."

Goodreads:  In Snowflakes Fall, Newbery Medalist Patricia MacLachlan and award-winning artist Steven Kellogg portray life’s natural cycle: its beauty, its joy, and its sorrow. Together, the words and pictures offer the promise of renewal that can be found in our lives—snowflakes fall, and return again as raindrops so that flowers can grow.
 
MacLachlan and Kellogg, who are longtime friends, were moved to collaborate on a message of hope for children and their families following the tragic events in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012. Kellogg lived in Sandy Hook for thirty-five years—he raised his family there and was an active member of the community. With Snowflakes Fall, they have created a truly inspiring picture book that is both a celebration of life and a tribute to the qualities that make each individual unique.
 
In honor of the community of Sandy Hook and Newtown, Random House, the publisher of Snowflakes Fall, has made a donation to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund. Random House is also donating 25,000 new books to the national literacy organization First Book in the community’s honor and in support of children everywhere.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Winter is For Snow - Robert Neubecker

Illustrated by the author
2013 Disney/Hyperion
HC $16.99
32 pages
Goodreads rating: 3.49 (41 ratings)
My rating: 4.5
Endpapers:  White with lots of pale blue snowflakes
Title Page: The same illustrations as the endpapers, except the background is pale, pale blue and the snowflakes are white.  The preceeding page is cool - 9 windows, 3/3, with various stages of a snowstorm.
Illustrations:  Really cool - every inch of the page is covered (much of it with.....snowflakes!)

1st line:  Winter is for snow!    No.

My comments:  Ah - this is a good one!  A happy brother who loves the snow and everything surrounding it, and a grumpy sister who doesn't care for it at all - until the end.  Their words are in different colors (blue and read) and the four-line stanzas all gently rhyme.  Super book!

GoodreadsIn a rambunctious ode to everything winter, two siblings explore a snowy wonderland . . . and end up in the cozy warmth of family. Delve into Robert Neubecker's expressive and rejuvenating illustrations that celebrate snow and the coziness of friends and family at home. Only Robert Neubecker's magic touch could make kids love winter this much.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Let There Be Peace on Earth - Jill Jackson & Sy Miller

Illustrated by David Diaz
Tricycle Press (Berkeley) 2009
$18.99
24 pgs. & cd
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Batik illustrations - snowflakes and circles, showing different symbols of peace from around the world

This seems to be a year that old folk songs are being turned into lovely picture books. Peter Yarrow's done a couple really recently and tonight I bumped into this one. Who can't love this song -- its simple words and memorable tune? Written in 1955, the words are now renewed in this eye-popping picture book.

The last few pages are informative - about the songwriters, the creation of the song, the actual score of the song, and interesting explanations for 12 different peace symbols. These are fascinating - from the Japanese crane (and mention of Sadako Sasaki) and middle Eastern pslm trees to Scandianvian misteltoe and the Chinese ying and yang - clear and simple information to take in, to share.

David Diaz continues to keep me enthralled. I've drooled over his illustrations before - his pleasing colors and designs completely cover the pge. They were "rendered in Adobe Illustration and Photoshop." How?