Snowballs by Lois Ehlert, Lois Ehlert (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

Pull on your mittens and head outside for a snowball day. Grab some snow and start rolling. With a few found objects—like buttons and fabric and seeds—and a little imagination, you can create a whole family out of snow. Children will love poring over Lois Ehlert's bold, funny illustrations and identifying the common (and not so common) objects she uses to decorate her snowy family.

Publishers Weekly

Only an artist as gifted as Ehlert (Nuts to You!) could take so well-worn a topic as building a snowman and make it as fresh as-well, new-fallen snow. Her faultless sense of design immediately engages the reader: tidy white circles dot the gray backgrounds of her collages; cut-paper birds show off their hand-painted wings; and an offscreen narrator exhibits a sackful of ``good stuff''-birdseed, peanuts, corn kernels, etc.-accumulated in anticipation of the ``perfect snowball day.'' Soon the narrator and invisible colleagues have constructed a whole family of snow people and their pets. Each member of the snow family receives a full spread, to be viewed vertically, and each is decorated with ``good stuff.'' Birds (and squirrels) can feast upon some of the adornments; and bright textiles (a Bolivian hat, a Guatemalan purse) imaginatively intermingle with stones, twigs and such prosaic items as a luggage tag and a claim check. Factual information about snow is included as well as a spread featuring photos of 13 snow creations. Even jacket space is not wasted-the flap has a recipe for popcorn balls, while the back cover features a selection of snowy newspaper forecasts. A joyful and inventive book just brimming with its own ``good stuff.'' Ages 3-8. (Oct.)

Children's Literature

Making snowballs and snowmen seems so natural with all of those beautiful flakes piled high on the ground. Ehlert, with her distinctive collage artwork, creates a snow family using familiar objects from inside and outside the house. When the sun arrives, the family begins to melt away. Good ideas for decorating and creating a snow family are imaginatively displayed in vertical form on two-page spreads. 2001 (orig. 1995), Red Wagon/Harcourt, $6.95. Ages 6 mo. to 3. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot

Children's Literature

Making snowballs and snowmen seems so natural with all of those beautiful flakes piled high on the ground. Ehlert, with her distinctive collage artwork, creates a snow family using familiar objects from inside and outside the house. Good ideas, sure to spur further creativity, are imaginatively displayed in vertical form on two-page spreads.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-Ehlert once again displays the innovative collage style that so vividly celebrated spring and summer in Growing Vegetable Soup (1990) and Planting a Rainbow (1988), and autumn in Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf (1991) and Nuts to You! (1993, all Harcourt). Here, she puts a creative twist on one of the favorite traditions of winter-building a snowman, or, in this case, a snow family, including pets. Children who believe snowmen must have charcoal eyes and carrot noses will be inspired by the unique adornments, for each creation here is decorated with the narrator's cache of ``good stuff in a sack.'' Mom's hair is a Guatemalan belt; boy's nose is a toy compass; baby's arms are plastic picnic forks; dog's spots are a collection of buttons. As in the previous books, bold, rhyming text describes the simple pleasures of the season. The contrasting sensations of the crisp iciness and dreary isolation of winter are effectively created by placing the colorfully decorated white figures against a textured gray background on double-page vertical spreads. The background glows bright orange as the sun appears. Ehlert concludes her book with some winter facts, photographs of snowmen, and a recipe for popcorn balls. Another spectacular effort.-Kathy Piehl, Mankato State University, MN

BookList

A snow family is the heart of Ehlert's newest picture book, which shows, early on, a paper bag overflowing with materials ("good stuff in a sack" ) suitable for decorating. snow sculptures. The snow creations are depicted lengthwise on the pages, beginning with a snow dad formed from circles of paper festooned with raisin eyes and a mouth of unpopped corn kernels. A snow mom with coffee bean eyes comes next, and so on. A variety of objects, from food to ethnic clothing, are used to make each snowman, and Ehlert's trademark cut-paper animals visit the snow critters. Children will love figuring out what each decorative item is, and Ehlert labels everything in a glorious double-page spread that is certain to give kids (and their teachers) lots of craft ideas. Ehlert loses her focus at the end, shifting to explanations of snow science and photographs of real snowmen, but less relevant pages can be skipped easily. A recipe for popcorn balls that can be turned into "snowmen" appears on the back flap as a nice bonus.

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