School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-6-"When I awoke,/The tree limbs shone/As white as milk,/As bleached as bone." With easy grace, Yolen pens poetic lines to accompany Stemple's lovely photographs. The baker's dozen of poems are juxtaposed on panoramic views or placed alongside smaller scenes conveying soft billows of snow, icy glitter, and the white dust and crust of "that chilly white stuff." Soft lacy shadows of the photographed images form the background of some pages, echoing the sharper detail of the featured scene. Trees, the brown remnants of autumn leaves, skiers, and snowmobiles all receive their due. Some of the poems will long be savored, here and in future anthologies, while others are snippets of shorter season. "What shades of white/can paint a chasm?/Only a winter artist/hasm." The varied tone and multihued imagery of the poetry and photographs are sure to spark an enjoyment of winter.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.