cover image The Itsy Bitsy Snowman

The Itsy Bitsy Snowman

Jeffrey Burton, illus. by Sanja Rescek. S&S/Little Simon, $5.99 (16p) ISBN 978-1-4814-4837-6

A young, rosy-cheeked snowman stars in this wintertime riff on “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.” In an echo of the original spider’s waterspout travails, the snowman has trouble keeping its limbs and body in one piece as it sleds through a cozy winter landscape of animals dressed in hats and scarves, who race around on skies and ice skates themselves. After the snowman crash lands in a small village, “Out came his friends to lend a happy hand./ And everything was perfect in his winter wonderland.” Both the rhymes and artwork are unapologetically sugary, but the book’s nursery rhyme underpinnings should result in some fun readalouds. Ages 2–4. (Sept.)