#19 The Snow Day

Title:  The Snow Day

Author:  Komako Sakai

Illustrator: Komako Sakai

Publisher:  Arthur A. Levine Books

Copyright: 2005

Pages: 31

Genre/Category:  Fantasy

I initially chose this book because of the artwork. The style is very realistic, but the characters are rabbits with human attributes. The Snow Day is a story about a young rabbit who gets to stay home from school because it’s snowing. Throughout the day, he and his mom play inside, then, when it stops snowing, they go outside to play in the snow.

The illustrations in this book appear to be a combination of crayon drawings and painting. In certain illustrations the crayon drawings really stand out, but in others, it is hard to tell the medium. The colors in the book are very dark and bland to a degree. There are a lot of grays, blacks, and white, but the author/illustrator uses warm yellows and reds to add a little pop of color. The illustrations take up a full page or are in rounded off rectangles with the text underneath.

To be honest, though this was a nice enough book, I didn’t really enjoy it. It just seemed like it was lacking something – the ending was a little bland. Also, it seemed that human characters would have fit into the setting better. The story is set in an apartment in an urban area. Overall though, the artwork is very nice, and I recommend it mostly because of the artwork. This would be a good story to read aloud during the winter or on a snowy day. It could spark discussion of childrens’ experiences with snow and winter, and how they felt about having to wait to go out to play.