Snow (HB)

Author(s): Uri Shulevitz

Picture Books

Like most creative artists who are also critics, Shulevitz displays time and again in his own work the criteria that are the foundation of his critical theories. Snow is no exception. Through a minimalist text and carefully composed illustrations, it demonstrates his belief that the true picture book, with its inevitable melding of words and art, is a distinct genre. The premise is as simple as it is universal (at least in cold climates): the transforming power of a snowstorm. The setting is a dour, gray little town suggesting an Eastern European locale of old-except for television and radio. Neither of the latter is particularly prescient when it comes to predicting weather, for "snowflakes don't listen to radio, / snowflakes don't watch television." Only a hopeful small boy recognizes the first snowflake as a harbinger of the wonder to come. Nor is he discouraged as one adult after another tries to disabuse him. With each turn of the page, marvels occur that are presented only in the illustrations: the rooftops gradually whiten; the village becomes an enchanted landscape; nursery rhyme characters emerge from their niches in the Mother Goose bookstore, joining the small boy in a joyous winter ballet. As in Shulevitz's Dawn, the changes are gradual and logical-not quite as dramatic, perhaps, but nonetheless satisfying, with a touch of the fantastic. The palette is appropriately subdued, depending in the concluding pages upon the contrast between a freshly blue sky and snow-covered buildings rather than brilliant colors for effect.

$39.99 AUD

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Winner of Charlotte Zolotow Award 1999.

Uri Shulevitz is a Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator and author. He was born in Warsaw, Poland, on February 27, 1935. He began drawing at the age of three and, unlike many children, never stopped. The Warsaw blitz occurred when he was four years old, and the Shulevitz family fled. For eight years they were wanderers, arriving, eventually, in Paris in 1947. There Shulevitz developed an enthusiasm for French comic books, and soon he and a friend started making their own. At thirteen, Shulevitz won first prize in an all-elementary-school drawing competition in Paris's 20th district. In 1949, the family moved to Israel, where Shulevitz worked a variety of jobs: an apprentice at a rubber-stamp shop, a carpenter, and a dog-license clerk at Tel Aviv City Hall. He studied at the Teachers' Institute in Tel Aviv, where he took courses in literature, anatomy, and biology, and also studied at the Art Institute of Tel Aviv. At fifteen, he was the youngest to exhibit in a group drawing show at the Tel Aviv Museum. At 24 he moved to New York City, where he studied painting at Brooklyn Museum Art School and drew illustrations for a publisher of Hebrew books. One day while talking on the telephone, he noticed that his doodles had a fresh and spontaneous look--different from his previous illustrations. This discovery was the beginning of Uri's new approach to his illustrations for "The Moon in My Room," his first book, published in 1963. Since then he was written and illustrated many celebrated children's books. He won the Caldecott Medal for "The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship," written by Arthur Ransome. He has also earned three Caldecott Honors, for "The Treasure," "Snow" and "How I Learned Geography." His other books include "One Monday Morning," "Dawn," "So Sleepy Story," and many others. He also wrote the instructional guide "Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children's Books." He lives in New York City.

General Fields

  • : 9780374370923
  • : Farrar, Straus & Giroux
  • : Farrar, Straus & Giroux
  • : 01 December 1998
  • : 273mm X 235mm X 9mm
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Uri Shulevitz
  • : Hardback
  • : English
  • : 28
  • : colour illustrations