The Snow Day

by Komako Sakai, Komako Sakai (Illustrator)

Overview

The best snow day book since Ezra Jack Keats's THE SNOWY DAY...

A young rabbit wakes up to wonderful news: A snow day! School is canceled, and the day that follows is rich with the magic and delight of the falling snow. And yet there is longing too, as the young rabbit and his mother wait for news of his father, grounded on a plane in a faraway city.... The news that his father will be home tomorrow gives the book a peaceful, comforting, and perfect ending.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545337601
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	11/01/2010
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Lexile:	500L (what's this?)
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Komako Sakai studied art in Tokyo, Japan, where she worked as a textile designer before she began illustrating picture books. She has won awards around the world, including the Japan Picture Book Prize, a Golden Plaque at the Biennial of Illustrations in Slovakia, and a Silver Griffin in the Netherlands. Her book Emily's Balloon was named an ALA Notable Children's Book and a Horn Book Fanfare title, and The Snow Day received four starred reviews. She lives in Japan.

Editorial Reviews

Narrated by a bunny child, the story builds slowly but with a growing tension, reinforced by the rough, grainy illustrations…The art in The Snow Day is unpretty and mesmerizing. This world is dark, heavy, unsentimental and thick with…the bittersweet solitude of snow.
—The New York Times

David Barringer

Snow has been falling all night, and when a small rabbit awakens, he learns that kindergarten is closed, his mother can't go to the store, and his father's flight home has been canceled. "Mommy, we are all alone in the world," he announces solemnly, and even though he's clearly safe and sound in an apartment with all the modern comforts, readers will understand his bittersweet feelings of isolation and solitude. Sakai (Emily's Balloon) takes a very different approach in these pages: focusing more on setting and mood than characterization, she turns each illustration into a vivid snapshot (Mommy on the phone with stranded Daddy, an outdoor hug before the dash back indoors). Against a palette of grays and muted colors, she uses the yellow of the rabbit's jacket or boots to focus the reader's gaze, and layers the paints to suggest the intimacy and coziness of the hearth, the eerie but irresistible starkness of a landscape transformed by snow. Ages 3-5. (Jan.)

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Publishers Weekly

PreS-K

A five-year-old (rabbit) awakes one morning to discover that there will be no school, no daddy flying home today, and no going out outside-until the snow stops. Sakai clearly understands the predicament of being cooped up in an urban high rise: trying to stay entertained with games, constantly gazing out the window, being lured by the balcony. Her subdued palette and minimalist text suggest the blanketed sound produced by a heavy snowfall. Window-shaped frames with tight cropping contain the energy in the interior scenes; most exterior compositions bleed off the page-oh marvelous freedom! The layers of paint are applied to a black ground with a combination of wet and dry brushes, producing a convincing depth and texture; the darkness is a perfect foil for the cottony bright snowflakes. While the mother may appear overprotective about her bunny's health, she does relent when the snow stops, even though it is bedtime, and the pair enjoys a nocturnal adventure. The protagonist narrates in the first person; thus, the sentences are appropriately concise, yet with lovely rhythms and interesting details. (He ultimately makes snowballs and snow dumplings.) Atmospheric, tender, full of anticipation and satisfaction, this one will charm young children. In Leonid Gore's Danny's First Snow (S & S, 2007), a young rabbit, possessed of an active imagination, is encountering white creatures at every turn. Used together, the two books provide contrasting emotional and visual experiences of a universally beloved phenomenon (at least by young rabbits/children).-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library

School Library Journal

Little rabbit wakes to find it's been snowing all night long. Excited about the snow day, the pajama-clad tyke bolts for the door, but Mommy doesn't want her little one to catch cold. Together they must wait for the storm to subside, and the dark-lit day is filled with a series of quiet, intimate moments: Little rabbit makes a snow dumpling on the apartment balcony; mother and offspring play cards to pass the time; the two silently watch the snow fall and feel the solitude of the empty streets. "Mommy, we are all alone in the world," says the meditative bunny as the snow swirls around them, creating a vast canvas of white and grey. Sakai's muted palette and grainy illustrations perfectly capture the quiet, opaque atmosphere of a snowy day. The cant of rabbit's ears and clever compositions subtly indicate the little one's emotional state: Tighter, denser compositions denote when rabbit is safe inside; open, expansive urban landscapes with ample negative space capture the freedom of playing in fresh-fallen snow. A reassuring story, perfect for a winter's day. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews