Product Description

What does it
take to make
snow music?

A boy and a girl.
Neighbors.
A squirrel, rabbit,
deer, and bird.
Also neighbors.
A dog.
Lost and then found.

And snow falling. Peth.
And melting. Drip.
And falling again.
Peth.
Peth.
Peth.

You can listen.
You can also sing along.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #344207 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 4-This picture book begins and ends with a whisper of snow. In between, a lost dog, a boy, a girl, a deer, a rabbit, and a squirrel cross paths as readers follow their tracks through the vast white of the pages. The tracks are both textual and pictorial as they create meandering word patterns and paint pictures of footprints in the snow. From the "peth, peth, peth" of the falling snow to the "jingle, huff, jingle, huff-" of the runaway dog, the text sings. The written word becomes a choral reading with solo voices while the ink-and-watercolor illustrations add another dimension to the composition. On some pages the paintings add a hush to the music; on others they brighten the song. White backgrounds create a crisp cold day, while more colorful, painterly pages realistically picture the rural neighborhood. This title will harmonize well with Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day (Viking, 1962) and other wintry favorites.-Carolyn Janssen, Children's Learning Center of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
PreS-Gr. 2. With whispery, musical words and detailed, soft-focus images that depict typical winter scenes, this gentle book gives children a sense of what snow is. A dog, deer, children, and squirrels wander, leaving clear, curious tracks in the new fallen white; the passing of traffic creates a symphony of tires. The underlying structure of looking for the lost dog keeps the narrative headed forward through the day, and all ends well. The author's invitation to voice the "sounds" of falling snow and hum a favorite radio song need not be offered twice, and gentle bits of humor offset some sentimentality, assuring repeated read-alouds. Just right for sharing on a snowy day. Francisca Goldsmith
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Lynne Rae Perkins was awarded the Newbery Medal for Criss Cross. She is the author of one other book for teens—All Alone in the Universe, a companion to Criss Cross. Lynne Rae Perkins has also written and illustrated several picture books, including The Broken Cat; Snow Music, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book and a Book Sense Top Ten Pick; and Pictures from Our Vacation. The author lives with her family in northern Michigan.

Customer Reviews

Sweet but not saccharine. Low key without being maudlin.
To look at "Snow Music" you wouldn't necessarily think much of it at first. On the cover is a calming image of a snow globe sitting beside a snowy window. Inside the book, however, the author/illustrator Lynne Rae Perkins has created a collection of delicate watercolor pictures that deftly encapsulate the experience of a single snowy day. When a boy accidentally loses his dog in the snow he sets out to find it again, experiencing the sights and sounds of winter on the way.

My description of the plot is exactly the same as millions of plots about snowy days in children's picture books. There's not a word in that description that's going to convince you that this book is any better or worse. Well it IS better, gol durn it, and I fully intend to show you why. First of all, let's examine a two page spread that appears after the title page. The page is full of blue, purple, and violet circles, each containing the word, "peth". The instruction simply reads, "Everyone whisper:". A whispered "peth" is indeed the sound snow makes when it falls on a silent night. The opposite page is a single spotlight lit on the side of the road, illuminating the flakes that fall beneath it. As the book continues we read small animal poetry. One is a deer haiku (almost), the other the thoughts a squirrel may have as it hunts for food. Two kids meet up and one explains his current situation. "I just opened the door to look out and he bolted". I love this line. The kids trudge off to find the dog and we read three different kinds of snow music in a row. One is the sound a car makes when it drives with the radio playing. Another is a VERY realistic truck salting the road. The third, the dog jingling in the snow. As you may have guessed, this dog is eventually found and the last dialogue we hear is this:

"Good boy."
"Why are you saying he's good?"
"So he'll like coming home".

The snow falls again after the sun melted it during the day and we are instructed this time to whisper "fep fep fep". End of story.

Aside from the words, which are superb, the art is as evocative as it gets. Perkins lives in northern Michigan and her book is a lovely view of rural Midwest snowscapes in the wintertime. This is the best picture book I've seen that evokes what it truly feels like to watch snow covering the land during the night. As lovely to hear as it is to read, it's one of the best winter stories I've ever had the pleasure to pick up.

Perfect Christmas gift!
This is a wonderful book for reading aloud with small children. Beautiful illustrations, musical text, an intriguing plot about a runaway dog. Lots to talk about or think about or just absorb. Perfect for snuggling up with the little ones on a cold Christmasy day!

A unique and distinguished read-aloud treasure
A superbly executed picture book for children by Lynne Rae Perkins, Snow Music emphasizes vision and sensation over plodding narrative. An elegant picture book featuring rapturous art and onomatopoeic writing, Snow Music uses color, contrast, and simple yet expressive phrases to bring alive a feeling of imagination and wonder in readers of all ages. A unique and distinguished read-aloud treasure to share with young children.