White Snow, Bright Snow

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. 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. The world depicted in this book does not include the sound of a snow-blower or a snow-mobile. It does not have Doppler radar to let me know it's going to snow. 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. The rabbits know it and the kids search the grey sky waiting for the first snowflakes. This book takes us from those first feathery flakes through a really deep snowfall. We're there as the townspeople shovel themselves out. We're there as the grown-ups contend with the winter snow and the children revel in it. Eventually Spring comes and is greeted with as much gladness as the first snowflakes. 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. 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. For example, "Then without a sound, just when everybody was asleep, the snow stopped, and bright stars filled the night. In the morning a clear blue sky was overhead and blue shadows hid in all the corners." Share this one.

Snow is the center of this book. Mr. Tresselt develops how snow is anticipated, experienced, and dealt with by a postman, farmer, policeman, the policeman's wife, rabbits, and children. The book is noteworthy for its social perspectives from 1947 more than for the story. As a Caldecott Medal winner, the high point of the book comes in the Day-Glo yellow, orange, and green images that burst from the white and grey world of winter. Mr. Roger Duvoisin has created a most unusual mix of nostalgia and modernism in these images that evoke a Stuart Davis type of feeling."Softly, gently in the secret night,Down from the North came the quiet white.""Drifting, sifting, silent flight,Softly, gently, in the secret night."These lines open the book and help create the magical mood of new-fallen snow.The postman says that it "looked like snow." He "put on rubbers" to keep his feet dry. But during the storm, he "slipped and fell in a snowbank." The next morning, he "took out his high boots." When spring finally came, he walked slowly so he could "enjoy the bright sunshine."The farmer said it "smelled like snow." He "went to the barn for a snow shovel." With it, he "dug a path . . . to the house." The next day, he used the path to the barn and "milked his cows." In the spring, he "let his cows out" of the barn for the first time that year.The policeman said it "felt like snow." He "buttoned up his coat." But he "got his feet wet." He "had a chill and stayed in bed" the next day. When spring came, he "walked in the park."The policeman's wife said "her big toe hurt." She checked the cupboard to make "sure she had cough mixture." When her husband returned from work, she "put a mustard plaster on his chest." While he is ill, she "knits a long woolen scarf for him." In the spring, she digs in her garden.The children "watched" the snow start to fall. They "laughed and danced." They even "dreamed" about playing in the snow. In the spring, they "watched for the first robin."The rabbits "knew" the snow was coming. They "hid in their warm burrows" underground. During the storm they "hopped about as best they could." In the spring they enjoyed "hopping about in the warm world." Modern readers will probably be struck by the book's having a central figure be an apparently stay-at-home wife with no children in sight. That was common in 1947, and makes the book interesting from a sociological perspective. How much our ideas of sexual roles have changed since then! This story today would probably have the woman be serving as a police officer. How can you find joy in snow and the long, cold days of winter? If you live someplace warm, how can you enjoy the change of the seasons by visiting snow-filled fields? When I was a child growing up in Southern California, my father would load his pick-up truck full of snow from the mountains and dump it on our front lawn. The neighbor children and I would build snowmen and have snowball fights, until the snow

This book won the Caldecott Medal in 1948. It is based on a poem the author wrote which came to him as he was walking a street in New York City, on a snowy winter night. The book takes place in the suburbs in 1948. It focuses on the anticipation of the snowfall, the actual snowfall, the children playing and loving the snow and then the beginning of spring. In this age of FEdEX and high technology, it is fun to see a postman and policeman walking their route. The story really seems like a fairy tale. It is absolutely charming. It has endured since 1948. Your children will enjoy it, and so will you.

The writer generates a wonder-filled trip driven by sing songy poetry. The event is experienced by a community of friends and relatives in the town where we grew up. We can all relate to the exhilerating preparations made for the first snow flake of each winter season.