About BC Books Online
BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
Description
"What is snow?" Araba, a Ghanaian child, asks her Canadian pen pal. The response unfolds as a letter in poetry, rich in lyricism and in what author Sheree Fitch would call "lipslipperiness." Janet Wilson's glowing pastel illustrations revel in all the sensory experiences, the color, associated with the cold white stuff. Through the asking and the telling, two children reach halfway around the world and touch one another.
About the Authors
Sheree Fitch's first two books, Toes in My Nose (1987) and Sleeping Dragons All Around (1989), launched her career as a poet, rhymster, and a “kind of Canadian female Dr. Seuss.” Fitch has won almost every major award for Canadian childrenÕs literature since then, including the 2000 Vicky Metcalf Award for a Body of Work Inspirational to Canadian Children. She has over twenty-five books to her credit, including her bestselling and critically praised adult novel, Kiss the Joy As It Flies (2008). Fitch's home base is the East Coast of Canada.
Visit her at: shereefitch.com
Janet Wilson is an author and fine artist. Her book Shannen and the Dream for a School won the First Nation Communities Read award, was nominated for the Silver Birch Award, and is soon to be a TV movie. Her picture book, Our Earth: How kids are saving the planet, was the winner of the Science in Society Book Award. Janet lives in Eden Mills, Ontario, a community with a strong environmental focus.
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age:
- 0 to 7
- Grade:
- p to 2
- Reading age:
- 4 to 8
Awards
- Short-listed, Pearson Canada Readers' Choice Award nominee
- Short-listed, Blue Spruce nominee
- Short-listed, Ruth Schwartz Children's Book Award nominee
- Short-listed, CLA Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award nominee
- Commended, CCBC Our Choice
Editorial Reviews
"Fitch's poetry is full of dazzling images."
— Booklist
"The lyrical text...conjures up nostalgic sensual images of snowflakes."
"Most scenes are alive with actionespecially the tobogganers who almost zoom off the page straight into your lap."
— Resource Links
"Award-winning oil painter Janet Wilson brings the text to life with brilliantly coloured snapshots of childhood winters."
"This book has a cozy, cuddle-on-the-couch quality."
— Rockcliffe Reviews
"Children will recognize the similarities and connections between themselves and others and the differences that make each child and every culture unique."
— UNICEF Communique
Out of print
This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.
