Winter, Winter, Cold and Snow

October 17, 2016
“Winter, winter, cold and snow;/ Chickadee, Chickadee, who do you know?” Using variations on this refrain, Palermo constructs a chain of animal interactions in a wintertime forest. Each animal responds to the question by describing another creature (“I know Bear, asleep in her den;/ she might wake up when the sun shines in”), who answers the same question on the following page. Song makes good use of varying textures in her cut-paper illustrations: corrugated papers suggest a wolf’s fur while crinkled ones lend visual depth to snow-covered hills. Though neither the straightforward rhymes nor somewhat cartoony artwork makes the strongest of impressions, it’s a diverting introduction to a handful of animals. Up to age 4.