Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Stella Queen of the Snow
Picture Book Series
For ages 4 and up
Groundwood Books, 2000 ISBN: 978-0888994042
Sam is a little boy who has never seen snow or a snowstorm. Luckily for Sam he has a big sister like Stella. Stella is a wonderful big sister who knows how to explain things and who doesn’t mind answering a lot of questions, little boy sort of questions like "Where does a snowman sleep?" and "Do snowmen eat green snowsuits?" Of course Stella knows that snowmen never eat green snow suits. This is very important to Sam because Sam happens to be wearing a green snowsuit at that particular moment.
Sam comes up with wonderful reasons why he doesn’t want to do certain things. For example he doesn’t want to skate because he is "listening to the frogs snore" under the ice. He doesn’t want to help build a snow fort because he is counting snowflakes. As for sledding, well, Sam thinks he would much rather walk down the hill. Clearly Stella’s "Faster than a bird" and "Faster than an airplane" Did not appeal to him.
The differences between Sam and his sister are truly delightful and though this is a book for children, adults will get a great deal of joy and laughter reading it. The lovely multimedia illustrations capture that wonderful clarity that one finds in a snowscape, and there is no doubt that though Sam and Stella have very different approaches to life, they both are able to hear and see the secrets that live in the hearts of the young and the young at heart. Readers of this delightful book will enjoy the other Stella and Sam books written and illustrated by this author.
