ALA Booklist

A cheery child wakes up one morning to discover a delightful surprise: it's snowing! After donning a bright orange hat and grabbing a yellow sled, the child, who has noticeably East Asian features and could be any gender, trundles outside. After some exploring, sledding, and tumbling in the snow, a storm picks up, and it's time to go home for cozy hot chocolate. While Kaneko's story is approachably slight, Saito's lively artwork steals the show. In thick oil pastels, gouache, acrylics, and colored pencil, he wonderfully captures the atmosphere of a snowy day. Plump splotches of opaque white speckle every page, while bright colors peek through a veil of snowy hues. He renders the child's sledding adventure with thrilling movement mbles of effervescent, swirling lines heighten the action before the child finally comes to a stop, rosy cheeked and grinning, partially buried in a soft pile of white. There's no shortage of picture books about snowy days, but this one, with its playful art style and joyful celebration of winter, is particularly lovely.

Horn Book (Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

A young boy can't contain his excitement when he looks outside and sees snow. He bundles up and heads out, leading readers along on his adventures. Kaneko's use of descriptive language gives the reader a sensory experience of the child's world. Saito's illustrations, created with oil pastels, gouache, acrylics, and colored pencils, evoke the feelings and motion of the story.

School Library Journal (Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2016)

PreS-Gr 1 A tousle-haired child is delighted to look out the window and find that it is snowing. After bundling up per Mommy's orders, he heads outdoors. First-person perspective lends immediacy to the text: "The snow is light and fluffy. It's soft and cold. Look! I've found an icicle. It is shiny and clear like glass." The mixed-media illustrations make good use of the textural properties of oil pastels, depicting a soft, snowy world that is still vibrant with bright color. When the child finds an icicle, the small bit of ice hanging from a snowy branch reflects the bright colors worn by the child, connecting the vividness of the experience to the muted quiet typically conveyed in winter scenes. The main action of the story concerns the anticipation, terror, and joy of a trip down the sledding hill and culminates with Mommy arriving at just the right moment to bring the child home for a cozy cup of cocoa. Pair this title with Ezra Jack Keats's classic The Snowy Day for another sensory-rich account of exploring on a winter day. VERDICT The story is slight, but the experience is fresh and lively, making this an excellent choice for most libraries. Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, MN