Considering all the snow that’s fallen recently in many parts of the country, some parents might be yearning to get rid of snowmen, snow shovels and everything related to winter. But the popular picture book team of Caralyn and Mark Buehner has an entirely different idea—wouldn’t it be wonderful, they ask, to have snowmen around all year long?
Expanding on the theme that produced two previous best-selling picture books, Snowmen at Night and Snowmen at Christmas, the Buehners portray snowmen not just as decorative yard art, but as warm and appealing characters. In Snowmen All Year, a young boy muses about the disappointment of seeing his newly built snowman end up as a puddle. What if the snowman could magically hang around for a whole year of activities?
Caralyn Buehner’s peppy rhyming couplets take the snowman through four seasons of fun, from flying a kite in spring to trick-or-treating on Halloween (and, hey, he doesn’t even need a costume!). The snowman’s human pal is delighted to have his rotund friend for company, especially when the two take a daring ride on a roller coaster.
Mark Buehner’s richly colored paintings feature a softly glowing snowman and vibrant background scenes in which the shapes of tiny creatures are concealed (a Buehner trademark). Children will also enjoy searching for the pair of ducks that appears on every spread, often in unexpected spots.
Snowmen All Year is a sweet and amusing treat that the youngest listeners will want to hear read aloud again and again. Who knows—it might even make the next blizzard an appealing event for the whole family.
