IS THAT YOU, WINTER?

A little vinegar and a lot of glory find their way into this evocation of the joys of winter and the beauty of snowfall: Gammell (Jim Aylesworth's Old Black Fly, 1992, etc.) obviously knows a thing or two about snow. Old Man Winter wakes up in a bad mood, and the first glimpse of him, in a huge tengallon hat and his droopy white moustache, will draw smiles. He mumbles and grumbles—no time for breakfast—and takes his truck out into the heavens to distribute some ice and snow, wondering, "Who do I make it snow for?." Readers find out when a tumble sends him into a snowbank, and a little girl picks him up, defending her much-loved old toy against the name-calling of her playmates. Worked in pastel, pencil, and watercolor, the illustrations almost shiver with clear, cold exhilaration. Gammell drips and swooshes trails and splats of white and gold against rich, blue backgrounds; he sets Old Man Winter's rickety house and track on twin mountain peaks linked by an even wobblier bridge; the children are marvels of variegated winter gear in purples, reds, greens, and yellows. The narrative text is set in regular type, while dialogue appears in Gammell's expressive scrawl. (Picture book. 3-8)