Snow Happy!
PreS-Gr 1–A rollicking verse about the joys of playing in the snow. Lively children and their parents and grandparents enjoy a day of sledding, making snow angels, building igloos, even shoveling. Hubbell's meter is bouncy, and many of her rhymes have a Seussian feel. The short text and the “Snow Happy!” refrain make the book a good choice as an interactive read-aloud. The artwork matches the upbeat mood of the text. It is always a challenge to depict snow scenes because of the prevalence of the color white, but Nakata accomplishes it admirably. She uses pale pastel washes for the backgrounds and bright colors for the children's clothing and for the little forest animals. The simple watercolor characters are full of activity. No one ever stands still or rests until the final spread where they are all tucked up in front of the fire. Large, informal fonts weave through the illustrations, adding to the energy of the story. This is a good companion book to Hubbell's Hurray for Spring! (NorthWord, 2005) but the art and poetic style give it even more zip than the earlier title.Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT© Copyright 2010.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.