Crow & Snow
by Robert Broder
illustrated by Olivier Tallec
Date: 2020
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 48
Format: e-book
Source: library
This heartfelt and beautifully illustrated picture book follows the special friendship between a scarecrow and a snowman throughout the seasons.
Being a scarecrow can be lonely. Spending his day keeping birds away doesn’t leave Crow with many options for friends. Then one snowy day, the children on the farm build a snowman. Crow and Snow are fast friends and winter passes happily in each other’s company. Then Snow goes away. Crow misses his friend and thinks of Snow during the warm seasons until they can be reunited again. Being apart can be hard, but the very truest of friends never lose each other.
(synopsis from Goodreads)
This is a simple story about a lonely scarecrow and an ephemeral snowman. Each year, the farmer's children build a snowman. Snow keeps Crow company through the winter. But with the arrival of spring, the two friends have to say goodbye. Snow always returns, though... until one year when the children are all grown up and don't build a snowman anymore. Is this the end of the friendship?
I get what the author and illustrator were trying to do here, and it's a nice book about friendship, but something's just not sitting quite right with me. Maybe it's Crow's wondering if he should tell Snow how he feels and the subsequent declaration of love. It almost feels a little too adult for a children's book, almost romantic, and while there's nothing wrong with a homosexual inter-object romance, the lead-up to that point had been about simple friendship.
Your interpretation may vary, of course. Overall, the story is fairly strong and the illustrations capture the passing of the seasons and the changes that come with that. It's not a bad book... but I'm not sure what kind of relationship Crow and Snow are supposed to have, and that ambiguity is kind of bothering me.
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5
Enjoyment: 3/5
Overall: 3.17 out of 5
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