Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

by Robert Frost, P.J. Lynch (Illustrator)

Overview

"Whether memorized by schoolchildren or used to eulogize a president, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," written in 1922 and published in 1923, has found a place as one of the best-loved and best-known American poems of the last hundred years. Now, six decades after the passing of its author, Robert Frost, celebrated artist P.J. Lynch brings this classic to new life with exquisitely detailed illustrations, evoking its iconic moments and wintry setting on the outskirts of a small village."--

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536229141
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	11/08/2022
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,077,134
Product dimensions:	11.44(w) x 10.31(h) x 0.38(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Robert Lee Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874. When he was ten, his father died and he and his mother moved to New England. He attended school at Dartmouth and Harvard, worked in a mill, taught, and took up farming, before he moved to England, where his first books of poetry, A Boy’s Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914), were published. North of Boston brought him recognition as the preeminent voice of New England and as one of America’s major poets. In 1915 he returned to the United States and settled on a farm in New Hampshire. Four volumes of his poetry, New Hampshire (1923), Collected Poems (1930), A Further Range (1936), and A Witness Tree (1942) were all awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He died in 1963.
Susan Jeffers is the illustrator of such distinguished picture books as Three Jovial Huntsmen, a Caldecott Honor book; Rachel Field's Hitty; and the ABBY Award-winning Brother Eagle, Sister Sky, which was also a New York Times besteller. She lives in New York.

Read an Excerpt

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sounds the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Editorial Reviews

Lynch illustrates Robert Frost’s classic poem with moody, snow-filled watercolor and gouache landscapes. . . . Rendered in a palette of blues and greens, Lynch’s illustrations artfully match the quiet, building depth of Frost’s work.
—Publishers Weekly

Lynch has done a marvelous job slowing the pace of the poem down by spreading its text out in small pieces and augmenting the rich language with illustrations, which will make it easier to absorb the sensory details so quietly evoked by the words. . . . a gorgeous rendering that will bring the poem to life for a new generation and even encourage young poets to stop and notice their world with a lyrical, illustrative lens.
—School Library Journal

The illustrations bring the poem to life.
—School Library Connection

The value of a book like this is that it introduces young children to a poem they will almost certainly encounter again, inculcating a fondness that should later feel like warm recognition.
—The Wall Street Journal

This picture-book features stunning images by award-winning illustrator P.J. Lynch that bring the wintery words to life. Just in time for the beloved poem’s centennial, the detailed illustrations will evoke the poem’s timeless snowy setting on the outskirts of a small village, and might even have your kiddo reciting its iconic lines in no time.
—Romper

From the Publisher

★ 10/01/2022

Gr 1–4—Frost's iconic poem is brought to life through luminous illustrations. Students sometimes struggle with poetic language, but Lynch has done a marvelous job slowing the pace of the poem down by spreading its text out in small pieces and augmenting the rich language with illustrations, which will make it easier to absorb the sensory details so quietly evoked by the words. For those who do not have firsthand experience of a snowy evening on horseback, large spreads transport readers to scenes of snow and moonlight. By using dramatic lighting, close-ups of both rider and her anxious horse, along with highly effective page turns, the drama of a wintry evening and the quiet beauty of the woods is masterfully depicted. VERDICT Featuring a brave child taking the journey through the woods, this is a gorgeous rendering that will bring the poem to life for a new generation and even encourage young poets to stop and notice their world with a lyrical, illustrative lens.—John Scott

School Library Journal

★ 2022-08-31
A picture-book adaptation of Frost’s pensive poem.

Its four rhyming quatrains are divided into six couplets interleaved with several wordless double spreads; the last four lines each appear on a separate page. Notably, Lynch visually subverts several of the poem’s customary narrative interpretations, depicting a young, light-skinned rider astride a dappled gray horse. While the poem’s line “He gives his harness bells a shake” implies a horse-drawn wagon, Lynch supplies a bell-trimmed bridle instead. Such innovations shift the poem’s authorial voice away from that of the venerable poet, adding a fresh layer of mystery to the purpose of this traveler’s journey. The narrator’s clothing, suggestive of the late 19th or early 20th century, includes a long dress, a belted jacket, a sturdy, wide-brimmed hat, and thick work gloves; a bedroll is stowed behind the saddle. Where the poem mildly personifies the horse, who “must think it queer / To stop without a farmhouse near,” Lynch depicts the dismounted rider fondly cradling the animal’s head as twin puffs of breath exit his nostrils. Belying this “darkest evening of the year,” Lynch illuminates the blue-grays of snow-laden conifers and frozen lake with a pallid gold winter sunset and a fleeting moon. Variable perspective—from bird’s-eye to close-up—bestows a quasi-cinematic sense as the coming dawn draws the rider’s furtive look. Endpapers bracket the journey, from twilit village to sunup, horse and rider long gone.(This book was reviewed digitally.)

Lovely pictures newly elucidate this renowned, euphonious work. (Picture book/poetry. 5-10)

Kirkus Reviews

Robert Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening with Susan Jeffers's 1978 illustrations plays up a festive family atmosphere. Jeffers warms the snowy b&w scenes by accenting coats, blankets and birds with muted colors. A frosty vellum cover evokes a wintry feel. (Sept.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly