• PARENT REVIEW
• EDUCATOR REVIEW

"Frozen and alone. Pressing on through the snow." Swathed in winter gear and a backpack, a solitary child trudges through a fierce snowstorm, braving wind and ice. Wearing a stocking cap and a scarf tied around his (or her-the gender is never specified) head, only his eyes are showing. "This is gonna hurt!" he moans as he slips and slides, and then clings, exhausted, onto a tree trunk. "Can't go on," reads the large print caption on the page. And then, in balloon dialogue, he groans, "I told Mom this would happen." He spies a WOLF! "I'm doomed." Really? A wolf? Well, actually, your readers of this simply written picture book, narrated by the main character, will notice by now that the kid's being a bit melodramatic. The "wolf" is really a friendly brown dog with a red collar, bounds over and leaps up to try to lick the child's face. "WON'T SOMEBODY SAVE ME?" the boy declaims. Then help appears, in the guise of two similarly clad children, carrying sleds, who inform him that school has been closed for the day. Off he runs, jubilant, leaving his backpack at the bus stop.

THEMES: ADVENTURE & ADVENTURERS. CREATIVE DRAMA. DOGS. IMAGINATION.

"Frozen and alone. Pressing on through the snow." Swathed in winter gear and a backpack, a solitary child trudges through a fierce snowstorm, braving wind and ice. Wearing a stocking cap and a scarf tied around his (or her-the gender is never specified) head, only his eyes are showing. "This is gonna hurt!" he moans as he slips and slides, and then clings, exhausted, onto a tree trunk. "Can't go on," reads the large print caption on the page. And then, in balloon dialogue, he groans, "I told Mom this would happen." He spies a WOLF! "I'm doomed." Really? A wolf? Well, actually, your readers of this simply written picture book, narrated by the main character, will notice by now that the kid's being a bit melodramatic. The "wolf" is really a friendly brown dog with a red collar, bounds over and leaps up to try to lick the child's face. "WON'T SOMEBODY SAVE ME?" the boy declaims. Then help appears, in the guise of two similarly clad children, carrying sleds, who inform him that school has been closed for the day. Off he runs, jubilant, leaving his backpack at the bus stop.

To make sure your listeners understand the humor, have them describe what is really happening in the story as compared to the narrator's perceived adventure. This snow day book is a very funny personal narrative, a great exercise in hyperbole or wild exaggeration, and those blue, purple and snowy white watercolors will surely make you shiver. Notice how it begins and ends on the endpapers? You just have to have your kids act this one out as you reread it. They'll love pretending to trudge through the snow like Arctic survivors.

TEACHING TIP: Students can use this as a writing spur for overstating or exaggerating something that really happened to them. When they read their embellished tales aloud, others can identify what really must have happened. Or have them write about a time they were really, really HOT. Start by having them list as many synonyms for cold and hot as they can.

THEMES: ADVENTURE & ADVENTURERS. CREATIVE DRAMA. DOGS. IMAGINATION.