LITTLE BEA AND THE SNOWY DAY
by Daniel Roode & illustrated by Daniel Roode
In their second outing, Little Bea and her friends pack as much fun into a winter’s day as they can possibly manage (Little Bea, 2011).
A game of hide-and-seek starts the day off until everyone is found: Bea, Bear, Rabbit, Owl, Beaver, Deer, Goose, Mouse and Ducks. Observant readers may be able to find those hiding by their tracks in the snow. From there, it’s off to make snow angels, catch snowflakes on their tongues, go sliding, have a snowball fight and ice skate. After a hot-chocolate break, it’s time to make a new friend—a snow bear they all help craft. Short sentences with easy vocabulary and onomatopoeic words make this accessible to the very young, but the sentences are choppy, and the pages don’t flow easily. Roode’s art features bright colors against a bluish-white winter landscape. While cute, the stylized animals lack personalities. Rendered digitally, the outlines are straight, stiff and crisp, with little sense of the soft fluff that is real snow.
The very young may enjoy this once, but it is no comparison to the likes of The Snowy Day.
(Picture book. 2-5)