Read With Me Wednesday: Two For One Special

Since I am a day late posting this, I am having a “Two For One Special”!  Two of my favorite favorite Christmas books, Snowmen at Night and Snowman at Christmas.  Both are fun magical stories snowmen and women coming to life.  One of my favorite things about these books are the illustrations and the hidden pictures in them. 

Snowmen at Night

Written by Caralyn Buehner

Illustrated by Mark Buehner

Not since Frosty paraded through the village square have snowmen enjoyed such a slip-sliding good time as they do in the Buehners' (Fanny's Dream) latest flight of fancy. When a boy observes that the snowman he built the day before now looks droopy and disheveled, he imagines what happened to his snow creation during the night. Soon the boy pictures all the neighborhood snowmen gathered in the park for "ice-cold cocoa," a snowball fight, a round of making snow angels and more. Surely a full night of play and a long glide back to their homes must be the explanation. The rhythm of the rhyming text sometimes matches the rollicking spirit of the snowmen's wintry pursuits, but occasionally stumbles: "Then the snowman games begin: They line up in their places,/ each one anxious for his turn in the snowman races." The glee comes through at its most infectious in Mark Buehner's oil-and-acrylic paintings of the merrymakers, who look so delighted in their revelry that readers won't be able to help smiling in response. Bringing the brisk snap of the season to the fore, his scenes feature a natural light show, depicting an inky night sky and fluffy snow that glistens beneath moonlight and (street) lamplight, and eventually, the gradual brightening of dawn. Children will like being in on the secret here and eagle-eye readers will relish finding hidden figures in the shadows, clouds and snowdrifts.  (Publishers Weekly)

 

Snowmen at Christmas

Written by Caralyn Buehner

Illustrated by Mark Buehner

One of the more charming new books of the holiday season, this reintroduces the jolly snowmen (and women) from Snowmen at Night (2002). This time they are enjoying the Christmas season, venturing out during the moonlit night (while children sleep) to gather in the town square. It's not what happens here (primarily a visit from a snow Santa and some carols 'round a tree) but the rich art that makes this special. As in the previous book, Buehner does magical things with light in his paintings. From the cover, where snow people frolic in the moody blues of evening to the scene of a city street where holiday lights cast a mellow glow to the quiet picture of a lightening morning sky, children will be enchanted by the hues of the acrylic artwork. The text is sprightly with a to-the-point rhyme scheme that only occasionally verges on singsong. Little ones, especially, will enjoy the celebration as the snow people relish their special night. (Ilene Cooper, American Library Association)

What are YOUR favorite Christmas books?  I’m looking for a few more to wrap up and add to our countdown to Christmas/open a Christmas book and read it each night basket, and would love to hear your favorites!