Starred Review for Publishers Weekly (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Using subtle patterns of shapes, color and onomatopoeic sounds, Perkins (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">The Broken Cat) invokes multiple experiences and layers of meaning in this complex, imaginative picture book. A scene depicted inside a snow globe on the jacket appears to become the story's setting; in the final illustration, the globe sits on a shelf between a toy car and squirrel (both of which play a role in the story). Waking up after a snowfall, a boy accidentally lets his dog out of the house, then spends the day searching for him. Into this arc Perkins weaves separate, complete moments. For example, one spread shows a gray squirrel and its criss-crossing pawprints on the right, while on the left, lines of type mimic the haphazard pattern of the creature's path: "I think—/ I think/ I left it—/ I think/ I left it/ here—/ somewhere... / I think." Elsewhere Perkins spectacularly recreates the music of a winter's day: the dog, against a solid white background, runs off to the right; on the left, the canine's tags (and his exhalations) are pictured as notes on a musical staff, "jingle huff jingle huff." A car drives by ("poot poot poot poot poot..."); a leaf hits the pavement ("K-tk"); snow falls (the repeated word "peth" cascades down the page, contained in dozens of multihued blue circles). Although the intricate structure (abrupt transitions and multiple shifts in perspective) may make this story challenging for youngest readers, the sophistication of Perkins's melodic, rhythmic and visual orchestration merits attention from older readers. Ages 3-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Sept.)

ALA Booklist (Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2003)

With whispery, musical words and detailed, soft-focus images that depict typical winter scenes, this gentle book gives children a sense of what snow is. A dog, deer, children, and squirrels wander, leaving clear, curious tracks in the new fallen white; the passing of traffic creates a symphony of tires. The underlying structure of looking for the lost dog keeps the narrative headed forward through the day, and all ends well. The author's invitation to voice the sounds of falling snow and hum a favorite radio song need not be offered twice, and gentle bits of humor offset some sentimentality, assuring repeated read-alouds. Just right for sharing on a snowy day.

Horn Book (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2004)

"Everyone whisper," Perkins begins, setting the mood with a page patterned in quiet blues and dotted with a soft, repeated syllable--"peth peth peth"--like the flakes of snow that blanket the world. Onomatopoeic language, offbeat details, and skillfully nuanced tones of earth and sky all convey the charms of quiet observation--of looking and listening, and of whispering, like softly falling snow.

Kirkus Reviews

An uncomplicated story about a boy who awakens to the wonder of an overnight snow, opens his backdoor, accidentally lets his dog escape, and searches for his pet with a neighbor. Endpapers covered with snowflake notes signal that in Perkins's hands, this is anything but ordinary. As the title indicates, this is a visual and textual choral piece that includes opportunities for listeners to join in. It opens with the susurrant sound of the falling snow and the invitation that "everyone whisper." Members of the "ensemble" (bird, rabbit, squirrel, deer, dog, children) are introduced as the day begins. Text replicates the shape of tracks left in the snow, which sometimes become the onomatopoetic sounds that make the snow music. Tire tracks become musical staffs. The watercolor palette is icy blue and white, and earthy brown with touches of color like the red in the dog's tags and boy's boots. The story comes full circle, ending with the snow globe on the cover . . . a miniature replica of the children's whisper-quiet winter world. Masterful and unique. (Picture book. 4-7)

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 4-This picture book begins and ends with a whisper of snow. In between, a lost dog, a boy, a girl, a deer, a rabbit, and a squirrel cross paths as readers follow their tracks through the vast white of the pages. The tracks are both textual and pictorial as they create meandering word patterns and paint pictures of footprints in the snow. From the "peth, peth, peth" of the falling snow to the "jingle, huff, jingle, huff-" of the runaway dog, the text sings. The written word becomes a choral reading with solo voices while the ink-and-watercolor illustrations add another dimension to the composition. On some pages the paintings add a hush to the music; on others they brighten the song. White backgrounds create a crisp cold day, while more colorful, painterly pages realistically picture the rural neighborhood. This title will harmonize well with Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day (Viking, 1962) and other wintry favorites.-Carolyn Janssen, Children's Learning Center of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.