Snowman in Paradise
Grade 1-4 - A lonely snowman, stranded on a Manhattan street corner during the week after Christmas, wishes for a winter vacation in a warmer climate. A magical bluebird overhears him, and the next day the snowman boards a plane headed for a tropical paradise. He thoroughly enjoys his nearly yearlong vacation and is not looking forward to returning to the frigid city until a few partying warriors run out of ice and decide that a piece of the snowman is the best way to chill their drinks. Before he makes a quick retreat, he fills his suitcase with colorful tropical flowers to share with the people of New York City. This improbable story, told in the same meter as Clement C. Moore's'Twas the Night before Christmas(Houghton, 1912), adds nothing to the world of Christmas-related stories for children. Many of the rhymes are forced, and the telling becomes more preposterous as it goes along. The eye-popping, stunning cut-paper illustrations cannot save this nonsensical tale.- Wendy Woodfill, Hennepin County Library, Minnetonka, MNCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.