Good Books
Making Tracks in Fresh Snow
Ivy F. DeShield, contributing editor
The New Year is upon us. 2013. A new beginning or tabula rasa is being celebrated in every nook and cranny across the globe. We are on the cusp of budding relationships and encounters that will shape our lives and extend our paths far and wide for years to come. At heart though, we are all still hopeful, excited children waking to winter’s first snowfall, ready to suit up, run outside and make fresh tracks in the crisp, white snow.
It has been said that there is no better time to create lasting memories than in the present day; and if so, there is no better present than the New Year. We have our lives laid before us like clean pages, and all we need to do is write. Authors, Ezra Jack Keats (The Snowy Day, 1962) and Jane Yolen (Owl Moon, 1987), both tapped into their past experiences to recreate the idyllic atmosphere of an unforgettable snowy day through a child’s lens in their respective works.
Keats served as both writer and illustrator of his celebrated Caldecott Medal book, The Snowy Day, inspired by a young boy pictured in LIFE Magazine. Referencing his book, the author wrote, “I wanted to convey the joy of being a little boy alive on a certain kind of day—of being for that moment...The air is cold, you touch the snow, aware of the things to which all children are so open.” And to his tremendous credit, Keats’ story is as simple and touching as a single snapshot of pure wonder and possibility captured in a large album of life-long memories. In this beloved children’s work, we meet little Peter waking to his first snowfall. Unable to contain his curiosity and excitement, Peter rushes from his bed and dons his bright red snowsuit to begin a magical day of fun in his own winter white wonderland. But what later delights the young boy even more than making snow angels and shaking snow-filled trees is waking to a new snow the next day and yet another chance to explore and dream.
Yolen’s Owl Moon, illustrated by John Schoenherr and also a winner of the Caldecott Medal, introduces a father and child embarking together on quite a different snowy expedition through a quiet, mysterious wood. They are going owling, a family pastime of both Yolen and Schoenherr, which inspired this poetic children’s work. As the father guides the child through the forest in search of the great horned owl, the author allows the child to be the eyes and ears of the reader, beautifully detailing the pair’s silent adventure every step of the way until their miraculous discovery and the sound of a familiar echo, whoo-whoo-who-who-who-whooooooo. Schoenherr compliments Yolen’s classic piece by charmingly rendering the eloquent details of the hidden forest animals, dream-like shadows flung across lush, white snow and the impressive glowing stare of the great-horned owl, itself. Like Keats’ young Peter, Yolen allows her “child” to experience the full, open beauty of nature in its coldest, yet finest, hour and find warmth and knowledge in the hope and possibility of the moment. Enjoy the reads, and Happy New Year!