The writing in this book is so lyrical and gentle that it makes a perfect bedtime story and it is sure to warm the heart of the adult who's doing the reading. The simple four color watercolor illustrations are just wonderful and made me yearn for the days when we didn't hurry from climate controlled houses to climate controlled cars to shopping malls with trees and fountains, for the days when we were on speaking terms with the weather. Eventually Spring comes and is greeted with as much gladness as the first snowflakes. We're there as the grown-ups contend with the winter snow and the children revel in it. We're there as the townspeople shovel themselves out. This book takes us from those first feathery flakes through a really deep snowfall. The rabbits know it and the kids search the grey sky waiting for the first snowflakes. In this book we rely upon the ache in a woman's big toe and the fact that a farmer says it smells like snow. It does not have Doppler radar to let me know it's going to snow. The world depicted in this book does not include the sound of a snow-blower or a snow-mobile. It takes me back to being snowed-in, warm fire in the fireplace, hot cocoa and the Postman whose name I knew bringing armloads of Christmas cards. This classic book published in 1947 wraps me in a soft fuzzy blanket of nostalgia and makes me crave the good ol' days of clean white snow and sledding, rubber boots and all the neighborhood children playing together in the huge drifts.
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