With the repeat pattern of the simple text, beginning readers can enjoy sharing this with a toddler sibling too. Sebastien Braun’s snowy scenes are a delight: I particularly like the woodland one. Youngsters can enjoy a game of hide and seek in response to the sequence of ‘ Who’s that … ?’ questionsĪnd then join in with the animal sound once it’s revealed. Peeking out from behind five objects –an iceberg, a boat, a cave entrance, an igloo and a clump of fir trees, each of which forms the flap, are five animals. This is one of the series of lift-the-flap books for those ‘just beginning to talk’ and it certainly has a chilly feel to it. Gorgeous! And as an added bonus, the spare text, with its built-in repetition, is such that beginning readers can, once the story’s been read to them, read those fifty odd words for themselves. Notice: the snowflake patterns on the child’s mits, the activities of the pup accompanying her the whole time, and the animals emerging and watching in the dark woods. Go back and look once more at the details in Park’s captivating snow-filled scenes. A magically uplifting moment occursĪfter which reality reasserts itself and we, and the little girl, are returned once more to her back garden and another kind of enchantment. Into the woods where she joins a throng of other snowman-building children. First though it seems, she must roll her ball of snow down urban streets, across a moonlit field, beside an elevated railway track – ‘ Fast, fast fast’ – One off the bucket list I felt like a kid againWatch how we spent our first snow experience in Madrid It was very sudden cause by a snow storm. Said toddler dons warm outdoor gear (good on her) and creeps out into the white world beyond her front door, there to discover the joys of building a snowman. With impactful minimal text and a limited colour palette, debut picture book artist Park creates the magic of a first snowfall as experienced by a toddler.

First snow by bomi park