December 2022

Did it snow where you are?

I'm resharing one of my favourite books that I think of when I think of Snow. Snow? by @jo_surman_illustrator

The book is a stunning hardback; I always think hardbacks make beautiful gifts. The cover is magical with the snow glinting in the light of the moon through the trees.

I adore when an illustrator really takes the time to make the endpapers something noteworthy (swipe to see).

At the start of the book there is an idyllic Autumnal scene with falling leaves, a gentle pond and a farm house with rolling hills behind. Echoing the front cover, the pages are framed by trees. It’s these sort of details that make me quite sure I’ll love a book before I’ve even got any further.

The endpapers at the back of the book is a contrast into Winter of the same scene. Bare trees, the land covered in a blanket of snow and a frozen over pond. I particularly loved the snow topped mushrooms.

The start of the book begins snuggled underground beneath the roots of a tree. Mum and her fox cubs are keeping warm together. It’s a dark spread but it’s full of love the way Jo has illuminated the foxes in their den.

The little cubs want to know what Snow is but Mother Fox falls asleep before she can reply. The little cubs head out in the day to find out from the other woodland creatures what snow is. They gather all the information they can but nothing can truly prepare them for the joy of first snow.

This book really took me back to when my daughter, as a toddler, first discovered snow and the sheer delight on her face as she frolicked in the snow. The delight was echoed again today.

This one gets a highly recommended from me as both Floss and I adored it. I very much advocate reading to children from as soon as they’re in the womb and this would be a book I would have read to my daughter as soon as I could. Thank you so much Jo for kindly sending me your magical book for review; we truly adored it.