If snowflakes tasted like fruitcake

Previn (Aberdeen) delivers a whimsical rhyme that sees a child imagining different things snowflakes could taste like, before deciding that they taste "like winter." Dressed from head to toe in red, her young hero can't help but recall the star of Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day; Previn sets him in a series of pared-down winter landscapes that are heavily textured with crisscrossing lines, wood-grain backgrounds, and other patterns. Previn's buoyant rhymes hit on many winter highlights like cocoa, sugarplums, and gingerbread, and even when they don't make literal sense ("If snowflakes tasted like chestnuts... I would roast them by the fire"), they easily conjure a playful winter mood. Ages 4-8. Agent: Steven Chudney, Chudney Agency. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

PreS-Gr 2-Hitting the mark with each rhyming couplet, a child of nonspecific gender muses on the possibilities of snowflakes tasting like various foods. "If snowflakes tasted like sugar plums.they'd be dancing in my head. If snowflakes tasted like oatmeal they would get me out of bed." True to a youthful imagination, the list of potential flavors includes cocoa, chestnuts, gingerbread, peppermint, marshmallows, and more. Previn employs the same technique of collage and paint on board that Ezra Jack Keats used in his classic The Snowy Day, and comparisons will be inevitable. Though the child shown here is not quite as dark skinned as Keats's Peter, the red snowsuit with a pointy cap is almost identical, differentiated only by a decorative pompom and the ends of a fluttering scarf. This stunning tribute is brimming with gentle humor and its own unique take on winter fun. VERDICT Having no overt references to Christmas, this tale will not only be absorbing for one-on-one reading but also a great choice for group sharing in any setting.-Linda Israelson, Los Angeles Public Library © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.