cover image Crow & Snow

Crow & Snow

Robert Broder, illus. by Olivier Tallec. Simon & Schuster, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-5344-4595-6

Crow, a hat-wearing scarecrow with Charlie Brown–esque features and a red plaid shirt, enjoys the seasonal companionship of a snowman named Snow in this sweetly patient picture book. Built one spring, Crow stands alone in the farmer’s field season after season—not even the red tractor returns his greetings. But each winter, the farmer’s children build him a comrade: a hill-shaped, carrot-nosed snowman named Snow. Despite slowly warming to one another, the duo must part ways once the snowman melts. Luckily, Snow is rebuilt the next winter, looking “a bit different” but retaining his character. The pattern repeats until the season when the farmer’s children have outgrown making snowmen—the same winter that Crow wishes to impart a heartfelt message, one that has to wait until another generation comes out to play. Tallec’s warm illustrations, done in bright acrylic and pencils, add lightness to this unconventional love story between unlikely figures. Ages 4–8. [em](Oct.) [/em]