Grandmother Winter - Hardcover

Root, Phyllis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395883997 ISBN 13: 9780395883990

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999

Synopsis

All through the spring, summer and fall, Grandmother Winter tends her geese and gathers their feathers. Why? To bring snowfall, of course-snowfall as soft as feathers and bright as a winter moon. With a poetic text and distinctive scratchboard illustrations, this book reveals that there is indeed magic and charm in our coldest season. To the woodland and all of its creatures-from round mice curling up and earthworms tunneling down to black bears burrowing and children dreaming of snow angels and sleds-the arrival of winter is, quite simply, a gift.

About this title

About the Author:

Phyllis Root says this story was inspired by her childhood memories of Mother Holle, a character in German fairy tales. She lives in snowy Minneapolis, Minnesota.

From Publishers Weekly:

Root (Aunt Nancy and Cousin Lazybones), no stranger to folktales, takes her inspiration for the title character from a German fairy tale figure, Mother Holle. Beginning in the spring, this wisp of a tale traces the heroine and her "snow-white flock" of geese through the four seasons. The prose gently foreshadows the closing spreads; in summer, for instance, Grandmother Winter gathers the goose feathers, "soft as snowflakes,/ bright as a winter moon." First-time illustrator Krommes supplies the meat of the volume with visual hints at what's to come. In an autumnal spread, her scratchboard illustration depicts the protagonist embroidering a quilt of snowflake designsAno two alikeAwhile russet and golden leaves tumble in through the window. As the woman shakes out her downy masterpiece, the flakes begin to fall, sending nature's creatures scurrying for cover. Krommes portrays a painted turtle burying itself in the muddy floor of a pond and bull snakes snugly coiled beneath the ground, before closing with scenes of children and Grandmother Winter herself tucked into their beds. A cozy mood-setter that will help children to welcome the winter weather. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0395883997
• ISBN 13: 9780395883990
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Krommes Beth