Winter Eyes

From School Library Journal Grade 2-5 Opening with the title piece, Florian challenges readers to "Look at winter/With winter eyes," and to find the beauty in such things as "smoke curls" and "clear cobalt skies." In "Sled," words and letters arch into the shape of a hill, capturing the puffing and trudging involved in pulling a sled to the top and the joyful ride down a snowy hillside. Thoughtfully arranged, the selections flow naturally from one to another. Parallel rhythms and rhyme schemes in "What I Love About Winter" and "What I Hate About Winter" beg to be read aloud. Readers familiar with A Winter Day (Greenwillow, 1987), will recognize Florian's palette of humble browns, gray, and ochre; the colored-pencil and watercolor washes delicately portray long shadows and a tangerine orange grumpy sun who, " barely dares to lift his head/Before he's ordered back to bed." Set against crisp, white backgrounds, the tidy illustrations are framed in violet, and Florian makes restrained use of navy blue and green accents. Winter Eyes does not address seasonal holidays and religious celebrations. The season itself is the celebration; it is alive and ever changing. When winter begins to hold on too long, readers bid adieu and welcome spring in the final poem, "Good-Bye, Winter." Quiet and reflective as the whispers of falling snowflakes and as jubilant as the whizzing of sleds, this book will be as welcome as a warm cup of cocoa after a long day of making snowmen and turning figure eights. Shawn Brommer, Southern Tier Library System, Painted Post, NY Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From