Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Snow Music
Picture Book
For ages 3 and up
2003 ISBN: 0066239567
In the night it snowed while everyone was asleep. With a soft "peth, peth, peth" it came down, "singing a silent song" and now in the bright sunshine there is a deep hush over the houses and trees. Then the boy gets up and opens the door to look out, and before he has a chance to stop him his dog has dashed out the door. There is a pause as we watch the woodland creatures in the snow; the little bird, the deer, and a squirrel looking for something it buried a while ago.
Then we join the boy again as he goes out to look for his dog. He meets his friend and we watch them walk across the snow together, splashes of color, red and green and blue.
Then the music begins with the jingle of that wayward dog's collar as he runs across the snow, followed by the muffled sound of music coming from a car radio as it drives past on the road. The day unfolds with more music and more story, bit by bit, gently uncurling.
In this unique book the reader is invited to watch and observe a small moment in time, to look and to listen to a boy and his dog, and to look at the wild creatures and what they are doing. The artwork is drawn in such a way that it is as if the reader is standing on some high point looking down at the scene, seeing everything from the outside, and it is only at the end of the book that we find ourselves looking at something that makes us ask even more questions. A fascinating and delightful book.
