Snow Scene

by Richard Jackson, Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Illustrator)

Overview

A playful guessing game set in a snowy landscape, this gorgeously illustrated picture book offers a cozy look at a cold winter that slowly melts into a bright spring with only a handful of carefully chosen words

A close-up of tree trunks leads to the question "What are these?"

A page turn reveals: trees!

Look to the right—what are those?

Shadows of crows!

Follow the clues on each spread until the snow starts to melt and spring is revealed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626726802
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	11/07/2017
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Richard Jackson, co-founder of Bradbury Press, Orchard Books, and DK Ink, has been an editor and publisher since 1962. He is the author of Have A Look, Says Book, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, and lives in Towson, Maryland.

Laura Vaccaro Seeger is a New York Times best-selling author and illustrator and the recipient of a 2008 Caldecott Honor, Theodor Seuss Geisel Honors for both 2009 and 2008, a 2007 New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award, and the 2007 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Best Picture Book. Her books include First the Egg, The Hidden Alphabet, and Dog and Bear, among others.

Raised on Long Island, New York, Seeger began drawing at two years old and never stopped. For as long as she remembers, she wanted to write picture books. She received her B.F.A. degree at the School of Fine Art and Design at SUNY Purchase in Westchester, New York, and then moved to Manhattan, where she worked as an animator, artist, and editor in the network television business.

Seeger lives in Rockville Centre, Long Island, with her husband, Chris, their two sons, Drew and Dylan, and their dog, Copper. She loves painting, surfing, tennis, playing the piano, and spending time with her family. She takes long walks at the beach every day and paints in her studio every night.

Editorial Reviews

This fourth book from…Jackson romps around outdoors, its few, coy words inviting readers to look harder at the lovely textured acrylic paintings by Seeger…Each page turn tells a fuller story.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

"A simultaneously playful and meditative riff on how interconnected—and fleeting—the seasons are."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Clever!"—The Horn Book

From the Publisher

2017-07-17
A "snow scene" gives way to spring.Verbal and visual cues work together to prompt connections from one double-page spread to the next as spare text combines with lush, painterly acrylic illustrations to deliver a contemplative picture book. "What are these?" reads the opening line, printed against a close-up picture of birch trees against a cold, blue background. "Trees," comes the response on the next spread, with a zoomed-out visual point of view creating depth in the picture plane and depicting the birches among other trees in a snowy landscape. The facing page asks, "And those?" prompting a page turn to reveal that the purplish shapes against the snow on that page were "Shadows. / Of crows." Ensuing pages show further details in the snowy landscape and briefly introduce child characters without developing a real story around them. Instead, a changing palette works with the spare text to first indicate a shift from day to night and then from winter to spring. The children, who have light, peachy skin and dark hair, reappear and enjoy the great outdoors, as do various animals. The conclusion, showing them gazing at a snow-capped mountain in springtime, brings everything full circle. A lushly quiet read. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews