Kids Story Books

PreSchool-K— The premise here is that snowmen are not only made out of snow but are the creators of it. (The chicken-or-the-egg question that this raises won't trouble most preschoolers.) In Sam the Snowman, Sam is the only student in snow school who is having trouble with the basic equation: Snowman + broom + the magic of giving = snow. Nonetheless, his teacher sends him on his first mission to Countryville, where children are waiting for the first flurries of the season. Amid pastoral landscapes where the wildlife resemble stuffed animals and the children are round and rosy as dolls, Sam learns—after a few disappointments—the meaning of the magic of giving. "He paints the sky and makes the woods and town sparkle." The book cover sparkles, too, with a liberal sprinkling of glitter that has a pleasantly grainy texture. While the book is neither inventive nor surprising, preschoolers will smile over the sweet, lovable pictures and simple, reassuring story.—Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY

At the opening of Winget’s latest picture book, Sam is but a snowchild, enrolled in school to learn the secret of how to make snow. He knows it has something to do with “the magic of giving,” but he can’t make a single snowflake. For his first job, he is sent to a forest, a very friendly one where siblings Sarah and Tommy mingle with smiling bears, deer, and birds. After Sam attempts and fails to make snow, Sarah and Tommy comfort him, offering him a holly leaf for his hat and a cheery, striped scarf to brighten his mood. The results are preordained (his gratitude inspires him to give his broom “his best twirl”), and the cozy setting Winget has created is over-the-top idyllic, but isn’t that what a winter wonderland is all about? In Winget’s world, snowflakes sparkle, bunnies skate, bears sled, and Sam the snowman has rosy red cheeks—not a bad world for readers of any age to visit every now and again. Preschool-Grade 2. --Abby Nolan