Snow Friends

PreS-Gr 2--Cuyler and Hillenbrand (Please Say Please!) are back with another charming tale, this one about friendship forged on a winter day. One morning, Oscar awakens to find a blanket of freshly fallen snow outside. It is just waiting for him to decorate it with his paw prints. He can't contain his excitement or wait for his boy to join him, so before long, Oscar is off on a solo snowy adventure. After playing on his own for a bit, he meets another dog, Daisy, and they become fast friends. What happens next is nothing short of winter magic. The new friends roll in the snow, dash around trees, create an ice dog, ice skate, and build an igloo. When their owners finally track them down, the dogs and their humans settle in together for some cozy fun inside the snowy structure. Soft and bright illustrations by Hillenbrand accompany the sweet and simple text, working in tandem to bring this story to life. VERDICT A heart-warming tale about friendship, recommended for libraries and homes everywhere.--Elizabeth Blake, Fields Corner Lib., Dorchester, MA

Third-person narration centers the perspective of butterscotch-colored corgi Oscar in this energetic winter adventure. When Oscar's boy, Matt, a pale child with dust-colored hair, postpones his walk, the canine walks himself, exploring the snowy landscape as a dog does--chasing a rabbit, nabbing another dog's ball--before meeting a gray floppy-eared pup named Daisy at an iced-over pond. After building a snow dog, ice skating, and erecting an igloo, the hounds smell Oscar's boy and Daisy's girl (who has brown skin and dark hair) nearby, and they are all united: snow friends. Hillenbrand's cheery multimedia illustrations--created with, among other media, pencils, chalk, pastel, ink, "watercolor (with a melted snowball)," and collage--feature softly colored comics-style panels that will enhance readers' enjoyment of the dialogue-heavy text. A seasonal read for doggy devotees. Ages 3-6. (Oct.)

There is an infectious exuberance underlying the story . . . A joyous, wintry read. —Kirkus Reviews