Making a Friend

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Overview

Clean, cold, white snow! Snow for sledding. Snow for catching on your tongue. Snow for making a SNOWMAN! Is there anything as wonderful as SNOW? Is there any better friend than a SNOWMAN? Snow isn’t forever, though. The wind shifts, the weather warms and snow melts into spring. The Snowman has become something else—the fog, the rain. But, how can this boy forget his good friend? He doesn’t…and he doesn’t have to.

Bestselling author, Alison McGhee reminds us all that nothing that has been cared for can ever disappear for good, for, “What you love will always be with you.” And, this tender story about the power of friendship will stay with readers long after they turn the last page.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

McGhee takes up an ethereal subject: longing for absent loved ones. A boy builds—and happily befriends—a snowman, which later melts in a spring thaw. “Where did you go?” the boy wonders. “Look,” writes McGhee (Someday), as the seasons shift and the boy pours a bucket of water into a pond. “He is in the falling water, and the rain upon the ocean.” Rosenthal’s (I Must Have Bobo!) boxy houses and rural scenes speak of simpler times, and the soft, sepia outlines of his pencil drawings look like old lithographs. Visual hints of the snowman’s lingering presence—ripples in the pond echo his charcoal facial features—underscore McGhee’s message. (And just in case readers miss it, it’s also spelled out in a refrain, “What you love will always be with you.”) The success of the book is in the gentle rhythm created by McGhee’s telegraphic text and Rosenthal’s spot illustrations, and in its evocation of the long waits of childhood, so difficult for the young to endure. All ages. (Oct.)

Children's Literature

Snow is a part of winter in many areas and building a snowman is an important activity during this season. The author and illustrator take a winter scene with a boy building and befriending a snowman, and depict the power of love and friendship. The message: "What you love will always be with you." shines through the brief text and captivating drawings. Although wind and warmer weather turn the carefully crafted snowman into frost on the window, fog, and rain as spring approaches, the basic message of love is always there. Young readers will learn that nothing you really care for will ever disappear for good. The story is in part a tutorial about building a snowman. After forming the snow into the body of a snowman, illustrations and text show that the builder will need eyes, a nose, a mouth, arms, and a hat to finish off the snowman. The story also presents the change in the seasons from fall to spring with relevant illustrations. Reviewer: Annie Laura Smith

More Reviews (3) Fewer Reviews

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2—In minimal but evocative text, McGhee introduces a small boy who builds a snowman and becomes attached to his creation. When it inevitably melts in the spring, the boy wonders, "Where did he go?" He finds his snowman almost everywhere he turns—in the rain on the ocean, the fog in the hollow, the frost on the window, etc., and realizes, "What you love will always be with you." When winter returns, he builds another snowman and again enjoys the companionship. Similar in tone to Mo Willems's City Dog, Country Frog (Hyperion, 2010), this gentle story offers the same opportunity to discuss the cycle of love, loss, and emotional renewal. The digitally manipulated pencil illustrations have a retro look and are reminiscent of the work of Louis Slobodkin. There is a lot of white space, particularly on the pages where only the boy and the snowman are depicted, giving the impression that they are in their own special private world. A simple but deeply nuanced story that should resonate with children.—Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ

Kirkus Reviews

The early-children's-book feel of Rosenthal's pencil-and-digital illustrations is what will first strike readers of McGhee's rather morose celebration of the forever nature of friendship. A young boy looks forward to winter's snowy fun. When it finally arrives, he crafts the perfect snowman friend, complete with nose, mouth, eyes, arms and the bright-red ball cap taken from his own head. He labels him, "My Snowman." But while it is obvious that the boy spends some time admiring the snowman, the wordless pages devoted to their relationship fail to develop it fully, and readers may be left wondering why he is so sad when spring melts his friend. Where is he? Intuiting concepts beyond his apparent years, the boy finds his friend in the falling water and rain, in the fog and frost (although it is never explained to young readers how this is scientifically so), proving that McGhee's unsubtly stated message is true: "What you love will always be with you." And when the seasons come full circle, the two are reacquainted. Rosenthal's illustrations are blotches of color on a stark white background, echoing the wintry setting and the boy's sorrow, as well as the sparseness of the slow-paced text. This retro salute to friendship simply tries to be too much to be successful--it does not hold a candle to McGhee's prior works such as Someday or Little Boy, both illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds (2007, 2008) (Picture book. 4-6)

Pamela Paul

…[a] tender paean to cold weather and enduring friendship.
—The New York Times Book Review

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781416989981
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date: 10/4/2011
Pages: 40
Sales rank: 61,360
Age range: 2 - 5 Years
Lexile: AD10L (what's this?)
Product dimensions: 8.20 (w) x 9.70 (h) x 0.50 (d)

Meet the Author

Alison McGhee is the New York Times bestselling author of SOMEDAY, LITTLE BOY, SO MANY DAYS, BYE-BYE CRIB, ALWAYS, A VERY BRAVE WITCH and BINK AND GOLLIE. Her other children's books include ALL RIVERS FLOW TO THE SEA, COUNTDOWN TO KINDERGARTEN, and SNAP. Alison is also an award-winning novelist of the adult novels WAS IT BEAUTIFUL: A NOVEL; RAINLIGHT; and the Today Show book club selection, SHADOWBABY. She lives in Minneapolis, MN. Visit her website at www.alisonmcghee.com.

Marc Rosenthal is the illustrator of many books for children including I Must Have Bobo, The Straight Line Wonder by Mem Fox and Phooey, which he wrote. Marc’s illustrations can be seen regularly in The New Yorker, Time, Forbes, Fortune, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and others. Visit him online at marc-rosenthal.com.

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Making a Friend

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More About This Book

Overview

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Children's Literature

School Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

Pamela Paul

Product Details

Meet the Author

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