Review - The Little Snowplow Wishes for Snow

The Little Snowplow Wishes for Snow
by Lora Koehler
illustrated by Jake Parker
Date: 2019
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: library

The plucky little hero of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Little Snowplow returns in a story about wishing, waiting, and the magic of a first snowfall.

The little snowplow loves his job on the Mighty Mountain Road Crew, but the work he loves best is plowing snow. Throughout the year, he wishes for snow to come, but winter begins without a single flake in sight. As the weeks pass and the little snowplow's birthday approaches, he starts to wonder whether it will snow at all. Will the little snowplow's birthday dreams come true?

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Admittedly, I'm not the audience for this. Still, I've enjoyed other books about anthropomorphized objects. This one, though? Not so much.

I think the sticking point for me is that this particular piece of machinery looks more like a bulldozer than a snowplow. Where I live, snowplows are basically just trucks with a shovel attachment. The fact that the little snowplow can do all kinds of other work (digging, lifting, and grading) suggests to me that he's not actually a specialized piece of machinery, so his name doesn't make much sense.

The story didn't excite me, either. Basically, even though he's got plenty to occupy him all year (since he's not actually a snowplow), he has this obsession with snow. When it finally arrives, he plows so much that he almost misses his own birthday party.

For a better book about anthropomorphized heavy machinery, check out Anna Dewdney's charming Little Excavator. It has similar themes of wanting to be part of a team (despite being little) but it doesn't devolve so far into silliness.

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

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.33 out of 5