Review - Rupert's Snowman

Rupert's Snowman
by Phillipa Warden
illustrated by Grace Ward
Date: 2020
Publisher: Purple Butterfly Press
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 44
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

It's Christmas Eve and a perfect snow day, or so it seems. Sledging, building snowmen, making snow angels and having snowball fights. But wait! What is this? Why is Rupert racing back up the hill? Join him and his mummy as they are forced to embark on a Snowy Adventure Rescue...

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Rupert's Snowman is a simple story about a child building a snowman with his mother. I don't know if he's autistic (when we're first introduced to him, he's "flapping" with excitement), but he's obviously fairly young because he cries at the thought of leaving his snowman behind. So he and his mother lug all the snowman parts home and reassemble them in their own yard.

The story is okay, I guess, but kind of boring. The illustrations didn't really excite me, either. The writing is fairly weak, with a few comma splices just to get my inner editor ranting. (There's no excuse for such simple errors, especially when you're dealing such a small amount of text.)

Overall, this is too basic for my taste. Weak writing, lacklustre illustrations, and a boring plot mean that I probably wouldn't pick this one up again. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Thank you to NetGalley and Purple Butterfly Press for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.33 out of 5