The Snowy Day
Baby reviewer: Snow! I saw a snow once! Good pictures. Like snow. The boy has mommy. Mommy good.
Mom says: This is a board book adaptation of Ezra Jack Keats's 1962 classic, The Snowy Day. This is one of the very few picture books I have encountered that works, in my opinion, as a board book for (older) babies. Most picture books do not; they have too many words and the pictures do not represent distinct enough story beats to hold a baby's attention. The Snowy Day's art, by contrast, is composed of vivid, high-contrast blocks of color that can capture baby's attention for long enough to tell a simplified version of the story. (The real text is still too long.)
Now, babies are 100% literal, concrete thinkers. They can't "imagine" snow if they've never seen it. We had a significant snowfall this winter, so when I read this book with my baby, I can remind him of the snow he's seen and what it felt like to play in it. Since he's not very verbal yet, the book gives us another way to communicate and talk about things he's done.
Babies and young toddlers can understand some of the simple concepts found in this book, like footprints, sticks, hot and cold, and baths. They might even understand why the snow falling on Peter's head is funny.
If your baby hasn't seen or played in snow, I suspect the book will be less meaningful to him. Seasonal and holiday books in general have this drawback; you may find that they work better when your baby has more experience of the time in general.
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