Snow Days

by Deborah Kerbel, Miki Sato (Illustrator)

Overview

First snow, surprise snow:
Nature's sparkly magic show

The award-winning celebration of preschoolers and snow is now available as a board book!

For small children, snow is a wonder. It sparkles and glitters. It transforms the outside world. Every kind of snow brings its own magic. It invites snow angels, skating, fort-building, and snowballs. Even blizzard days are exciting, when routines are overturned and everyone bands together to clear the snow away. For the youngest among us, winter is magical.

In Snow Days, author Deborah Kerbel captures that magic with nimble couplets that Kirkus Reviews calls "a playful celebration of wintry weather." Illustrator Miki Sato's fascinating textural collage art, called "deceptively simple" by Publishers Weekly, looks intimately touchable. She recreates the coziness and spectacle of the season in paper, felt, and embroidery silk, creating masterpieces that invite readers to look again and again.

With a diverse cast of children, a closing spread of five age-appropriate STEM experiments, and a sturdy Toddler Tough board book format, Snow Days will invite repeated reads everywhere from lap time to story time to bedtime.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781772781359
Publisher:	Pajama Press Inc.
Publication date:	11/10/2020
Series:	Weather Days , #1
Pages:	24
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	NP (what's this?)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Deborah Kerbel is the author of several picture books, including the Weather Days collection, Before You Were Born, When Molly Drew Dogs, and the award-winning Sun Dog, as well as novels for middle grade and young adult readers. Born in London, England, she moved to Canada at the age of two and went on to attend the Universityof Western Ontario. Her novels have been shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award, the Canadian Library Association YA Book of the Year, and the Manitoba Young Reader's Choice Award. Snow Days won the Northern Lights Book Award and has been shortlisted for the 2020 IBBY Canada Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award. Deborah lives in Thornhill, Ontario, with her husband, two book-loving children, and a schnoodle named Alfredo.

Miki Sato is a Japanese-Canadian illustrator who uses a variety of different textures and materials to create three-dimensional images. Originally from Ottawa, she moved to Toronto to complete her degree in illustration from the Ontario College of Art and Design. Her first picture books are Golden Threads written by Suzanne Del Rizzo and Snow Days written by Deborah Kerbel, which won the Northern Lights Book Award and has been shortlisted for the 2020 IBBY Canada Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award. Other recent titles in the Weather Days collection include Sunny Days and Windy Days.

Editorial Reviews

11/09/2020

This picture book features textured mixed-media collage artwork paired with a rhyming enumeration of different snow types and their respective textures, activities, or snow day descriptions. “Blizzard snow—school closes/ Rosy cheeks, red noses,” reads one page, alongside an image of a bundled-up family clearing their driveway with shovels. Kerbel’s couplets include both concrete details (“Frozen snow, shiny-hard/ Snowbank mountains in the yard”) and more poetic abstractions (“Last snow, tame and shy,/ Winter’s quiet wave goodbye”). Sato’s deceptively simple illustrations are almost tangible in their layers, showcasing an array of stitches, paper finishes, and fabric surfaces, and depicting an inclusive cast. Back matter features five “fun experiments” with snow. Ages 2–5. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Snow Days

2020 Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award Finalist

2020 Northern Lights Book Award: Board Book Category Winner

2021 CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens Selection

CBC Books “The best Canadian picture books of 2020” selection

Open Book “Beyond the Claus: Winter & Holiday Reading Recommendations That Go Beyond Just Christmas” selection

“Kerbel’s couplets include both concrete details and more poetic abstractions. Sato’s deceptively simple illustrations are almost tangible in their layers, showcasing an array of stitches, paper finishes, and fabric surfaces, and depicting an inclusive cast.”—Publishers Weekly

“The colorful collage illustrations strongly utilize texture to create depth and visual interest. The materials used to create the outerwear and accessories are especially realistic and invite closer inspection....A playful celebration of wintry weather.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Snow Days walks through the magic of winter in charming rhyming couplets. Meticulous paper and fabric cutouts form illustrations that seem to leap off of the page...”—Foreword Reviews

“The text is poetic but accessible, and compact without feeling hasty. It affirms the experiences of young winter veterans, while also being instructional for little newcomers...Sato uses paper and fabric collage for the illustrations, creating a striking juxtaposition between the textures of snow (mostly paper) and winter clothes (mostly fabric).”—Quill & Quire

“The book, itself, is designed with thick pages, rounded corners and a padded cover, is perfect for little hands. Kerbel’s rhyming text in Snow Days is paired with Sato’s three-dimensional illustrations that were created from a variety of materials and textures and which seem real enough to touch. Young readers will become excited for the first snow of the year with this delightful story. Highly Recommended.”—CM Magazine

“Snow Days is a fun picture book that will have young children looking forward to this exciting time.”—Postmedia

“Miki Sato’s three-dimensional illustrations, created with cut-paper collage, reflects Deborah Kerbel’s textured text, making us feel the iciness of packed snow and the dampness of mittens, amidst the piles of different snows….[E]njoy Deborah Kerbel and Miki Sato’s exploration in words and art and even consider the handful of experiments for very young children suggested at the end.”—CanLit for LittleCanadians

“With Miki Sato’s gorgeous and cheerful multi-textured, paper collage images and Deborah Kerbel’s precise and lively rhythmic couplets, Snow Days is a snuggly, bouncy and softly reflective reading experience–and one that is truly perfect for reading aloud. Additionally, at the book’s end, five simple science experiment involving snow are offered–just right for any potential snow days ahead!”—Fab Book Reviews

“This delightful picture book looks at all the different kinds of snow and the things that one can do with it, in it and because of it….Sato’s illustrations, using paper and fabric in collage, add a lovely dimension to the book. The book closes with five fun activities you can undertake with your child to further explore the world and wonder of snow.”—Canadian Bookworm

“The illustrations have a stunning depth to them and are layered and detailed papercraft creations...”—Kids Books I Didn’t Hate

“The collage art style is absolutely phenomenal. The artist, Miki Sato, is quickly becoming one of my favorite artists...I was so delighted with the polished style of this story. The text flows along naturally, and is a delight to read out loud!”—Luminous Libro

“Written in rhyming couplets, the book contains beautiful collages of snowflakes that invite readers to pause and enjoy the season.”—Book Riot

From the Publisher

2020-09-15
Simple rhyming couplets explore the myriad experiences snowfall brings, from the revelatory joy of the first snow to the somber goodbye of winter.

Children relish moments of ordinary magic brought upon by winter activities such as making a snow angel, throwing snowballs, and building a snowman. Young, expressive faces capture the pure emotions that accompany snow play, like the satisfying comfort of a soft, fluffy snowbank and the cautious trepidation brought on by slippery ice skates. The easy-to-follow rhyme scheme uses a two-word pattern at the beginning of each couplet: a descriptive word always followed by the word snow. “Powder snow, sugar white / Blowing flakes of frosted light”; “Frozen snow, shiny-hard / Snowbank mountains in the yard.” The children are a diverse group representing a variety of skin tones and hair colors. There is a nice differentiation in hue between the paler-skinned children and the white snow. The colorful collage illustrations strongly utilize texture to create depth and visual interest. The materials used to create the outerwear and accessories are especially realistic and invite closer inspection. Timid blooms peeking through melting snow end the book with a hopeful promise of spring.

A playful celebration of wintry weather. (suggested activities) (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews