PABLO IN THE SNOW

A lovable lamb ventures out into the snow, playing with friends and getting lost when night falls.

Little Pablo is excited to see his first snowfall, which he perceives as “pieces of clouds” falling from the sky. He leaves his parents and their cozy barn to step out into the deep snow, where he enjoys sledding, a snowball fight, and building a snowman with his animal friends. When Pablo falls asleep next to the snowman, another snowstorm rolls in, leaving the lamb lost and afraid in the dark. In a satisfying conclusion, Pablo’s parents find their son and escort him back to the safety of home. Charming watercolor illustrations make excellent use of white space as the snowy backgrounds, capturing the light-filled brilliance of a snowy afternoon and contrasting effectively with the slightly spooky setting of the nighttime scene with dark trees and swirling snow. One arresting double-page spread shows a petrified Pablo all alone in the snowy forest, but another spread showing the snowman is hard to understand visually as the snowman is split vertically in half by the gutter. Pablo’s adventurous day encapsulates the traditional elements of a hero’s journey: leaving home, experiencing new pleasures, facing danger, and finding the way back home again, wiser for the lessons learned in the wider world.

A delightful and satisfying snowy-day story, with the subtle advantage of a main character with a Spanish name.