Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit: A Book Of Changing Seasons (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
The story is of a rabbit, who watches how other animals cope with winter (migrate, hibernate, store up food, don't move much), who himself is white, and in the end, with spring, is brown again. Simple and engaging text for a young storytime. I really love the striking illustrations in this book, which is described as being "created by combining handmade painterly textures with digitally generated layers, which were then compiled in Adobe Photoshop." I love the patterns of the turtles shells, the swirls of the sheeps thick fur -- there is an almost jewel-like quality to the illustrations. The art reminds me a bit of Elisa Kleven, whose is one of my favorite illustrators. A little white rabbit appears in various winter scenes until spring arrives and he turns brown. There's no denying that the illustrations in this book are colorful, eye-catching, and unique, but I found some of the wording a bit awkward. I found myself turning back a page to see if I had missed something. The first page states that "When snow falls to the ground and all the trees are bare, everyone knows it's winter... including the rabbit." Then the second page says, "Some fly away from the cold." Although the picture is of geese flying away, the text just seems awkward, as it doesn't follow from the previous page. If it had said, "Some birds fly away..." or "Some geese fly away..." it would have made more sense. On the page with the sheep it says, "While some have a thick woolly coat...they can stay in the snow!" So I would recommend this for the pictures, which are beautiful, but not for the storyline.
What do You think about Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit: A Book Of Changing Seasons (2010)?
A spring or fall story about seasons appropriate for toddlers.
—krzymel
