Maxwell Newhouse

"Counting on Snow" is a board book featuring the artwork of Maxwell Newhouse, in which we meet a variety of arctic animals.

The illustrations truly are the star of this volume: the text, save for the final page, is limited to a numeral, a noun, and a verb per page, which are situated at the lower left corner of the pages, in the white margin. Meanwhile, a full two-page spread is devoted to each group of animals, who al appear twice: once on the left page facing the viewer, in keeping with show more the description, and again on the right page, walking/flying away, showing us their backs.

This book, though straightforward, manages to explore multiple layered patterns throughout. The first is obvious from the title: this is a counting book, though, unlike many in the category, it counts down from ten to one. Next, the aforementioned sparse text is actually alliterative, so the noun (animal name) and verb (what said animal is doing) begin with the same letter. Finally, younger readers especially will be excited to see the falling snow grow heavier and heavier throughout the book. Though there are but a few stray flakes at the beginning, by the end of the volume you must look carefully to distinguish the animal standing in the midst of a heavy snowstorm!

The one thing I found most disconcerting was the mismatch between the art style of the illustrations and the art style of the cover (yes, don't judge. I know....) While the cover is in a very modern graphic style, dominated by an enormous sans serif font and clean silhouette of a wolf, the entire book is quite the opposite in style. The illustrations are obviously hand-painted, and in a folk art style-- the snowflakes, especially, are discernible as round smudges of white from a paintbrush. Therefore, the disconnect between the very well done, hand-made internal illustrations and the computer-driven artwork of the front cover threw me off when I first opened the book to read. In my opinion, featuring more of Newhouse' work on the front would have better prepared the reader to take in the work.

Overall, a charming book with many things to discuss. I look forward to sharing it with my children! show less

Counting on Snow is a refreshing change from children's books about farm animals. Newhouse introduces children to arctic animals in a clever and beautiful way as the snow begins to fall and ultimately cover the landscape. My only complaint is that children first learning of animals such as moose and snow owls will not be able to get a clear picture of them because they are camouflaged by the snow. This is both clever and frustrating. On one hand, children have to look hard for the animals in show more this beautiful landscape (like a seek and find); on the other, the animals' appearance and characteristics are difficult to discern. So, by the end, a child still won't know what a moose looks like, but will at least have met some other arctic animals like muskoxen. Mostly I found it lovely and clever, and look forward to sharing it with my grandson. show less

This is a lovely board book suitable for young children learning to count. It provides a slight tongue-twister to accompany each of the arctic animals - five wolves watching - which is a game most children will love learning to recite. The snow becomes heavier on each page obscuring the creatures just like real snow. Beautiful.

A lovely counting book, going backwards from ten to one, and using animals from more northern latitudes. My only quibble is that some of the animals are indistinct due to the snow effect, and a young child might have difficulty finding them on the pages.

I'm going to read this one to my own granddaughter the next time we visit.