Charlie and Lola: Snow is My Favorite and My Best
PreSchool-Grade 2–Charlie and Lola return in another engaging story that perfectly captures a child's anticipation of the first snow of winter. Big brother Charlie takes his sister out to frolic in a world that has all gone extremely white! Lola and their friends make snow angels, go sledding, and build a snowman (and snow doggy) before returning home for hot chocolate. The next day, Lola, disappointed to find that the snow has melted, wonders why it can't always be there. Charlie compares snow to birthdays–they wouldn't be special if they happened every day. He takes his sister on an imaginary tour of the Arctic, where polar bears swim, and the Antarctic, where smartly attired penguins look like they are going to a party. She realizes that it would be too cold there for her to go swimming or to wear her stripy party dress. Back home, Charlie surprises his sister with a memento from the previous day's storm–a teeny weeny snowman who lives in the freezer. This book employs creative use of space, color, texture, drawings, and mixed-media collage that perfectly match Lola's free spirit and offbeat manner of speaking. The large, easy-to-read text follows the energetic rhythm of the story, using varying margins and fonts and swirling around the pictures. Read this exuberant story along with Uri Shulevitz'sSnow(Farrar, 1998) and Nancy Elizabeth Wallace's book of the same title (Random, 2002) to get children primed for the season.–Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CTCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.