(Preschool)
Root (Aunt Nancy and Cousin Lazybones), no stranger to folktales, takes her inspiration for the title character from a German fairy tale figure, Mother Holle. Beginning in the spring, this wisp of a tale traces the heroine and her "snow-white flock" of geese through the four seasons. The prose gently foreshadows the closing spreads; in summer, for instance, Grandmother Winter gathers the goose feathers, "soft as snowflakes,/ bright as a winter moon." First-time illustrator Krommes supplies the meat of the volume with visual hints at what's to come. In an autumnal spread, her scratchboard illustration depicts the protagonist embroidering a quilt of snowflake designs--no two alike--while russet and golden leaves tumble in through the window. As the woman shakes out her downy masterpiece, the flakes begin to fall, sending nature's creatures scurrying for cover. Krommes portrays a painted turtle burying itself in the muddy floor of a pond and bull snakes snugly coiled beneath the ground, before closing with scenes of children and Grandmother Winter herself tucked into their beds. A cozy mood-setter that will help children to welcome the winter weather. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Based on a German fairy tale figure, Mother Holle, this tale traces the heroine and her geese through the four seasons. PW called it "a cozy mood-setter that will help children welcome the winter weather." Ages 4-8. (Nov.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
PreS-Gr 2 Impressive scratchboard-and-watercolor illustrations highlight a fanciful tale regarding the origin of snow, based on a character from German folklore. Grandmother Winter herds her flock of snow-white geese in spring, gathers their feathers in summer, and, in the fall, stuffs her homemade quilt with their milky down. When she shakes the fluffy quilt, snow falls gently, creating a winter wonderland for people and a warm blanket under which various animals and insects sleep. From the stylized Jacobean flowers, the folk-art suns, and each unique snowflake, Krommes's expressive pictures successfully convey the actions and reactions of all living things affected by the snow. Poetic language and detailed art blend to create a whimsical delight. Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Root (Aunt Nancy and Cousin Lazybones, 1998, etc.) presents Winter as a motherly old woman gathering up goose feathers during spring and summer, then making a white quilt that she shakes out, covering the land with snow. The text's quiet rhythms find perfect resonance in the crisp, idyllic colored scratchboard country scenes. It's a strong picture book debut for Krommes, and readers who place this plump, smiling farm wife next to the crusty geezer in Stephen Gammell's Is That You, Winter? (1997) will find the contrast of personalities amusing. (Picture book. 6-7)
"The text's quiet rhythms find perfect resonance in the crisp, idyllic colored scratchboard country scenes. It's a strong picture book debut for Krommes." Kirkus Reviews
Grandmother Winter keeps snow-white geese. During the spring and summer, she collects the feathers released by their flapping wings; come autumn, she stitches the feathers into a lovely white quilt. When she shakes it, snowflakes fall cold from the sky, signaling the beginning of winter. Once the animals (and children) have made ready-snakes coiled in old woodchuck holes, hares in their coats of white, chickadees fluffed up against the cold-Grandmother herself, surrounded by her drowsy geese, snuggles under the quilt to sleep until spring. Root's cadenced text, lyrical and sweet, is nicely matched by Beth Krommes's debut illustrations. Her handsome stylized art, rendered in scratchboard and watercolor, depicts round, motherly forms embellished with figures referring to snow-six-pointed flakes, patterns like frost on a window, the flowing curves of a drift. The many creatures preparing for winter—bats, worms, frogs, fish, bears, and so on—are carefully observed as well as decorative. Horn Book
