Carl R. Sams

I like a Stranger on the Woods for a couple reasons. The largest being the amazing pictures that go with it. The shots that were captured for this novel are amazing and are extremely helpful for keeping readers interested. Young readers I feel will especially like the reality of the photographs. Their realness I feel truly make it seem like the animals are having these conversations together. You add that to a child's already massive imagination, I feel that they would very much enjoy this show more book. I also like the simplicity of the story as well. Aside from the conversations between the animals the overall plot of the story is very realistic. Two kids hiding in bushes watching as animals come and eat the vegetables off of the snowman is incredibly relateable. It's something I could easily see kids picturing, comparing it to something they have done, or maybe trying out themselves afterwards on a snow day. The big idea of this story is to tell a story from pictures. While it's not a full picture only book, the photographs are the center of the story and the text I feel is created to fit the photo that is there. While there is no real climactic plot arc to this story, the low key realism I actually feel is a strength of this book. Used in the right place, it could spark a lot of great conversations and activities among the kids. show less

I had mixed feelings about this book after reading it. I liked it because it incorporated photography but that was also part of the reason I did not like it. The book was extremely well written, the idea was nice because it shows animals real animals. I did not like the photography partly because I do not think I would have liked it as a child. The point of view kept me intrigued though, the animals were talking about the stranger in the woods that was the snowman. I liked that the animals show more were all talking to each other. I think the main point of this book was to illustrate that animals have a whole life within the woods that humans do not know about. show less

I enjoyed this book! The illustrations were incredible... The photographs are amazing! They enhanced the story is such a way that it enables readers to have a clear vision of the story without looking at the words. I also really enjoyed the writing of this book in the sense of the scaffolding. The animals are yelling "stranger in the woods" which makes the reader believes that someone bad is approaching. We then find out the "stranger" was a snowman which gives the reader a sigh of relief. show more Even though some young children were spying in the brush. The overall message of the book is you just never know who is helping someone. The animals had no idea it was the kids who put the food around the snowman and the kids were happy to do so. It can be a chain affect of positive things. show less

Nature photography team Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick - whose self-published picture-book, Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy, was a surprise hit back in 1999 - return to the same formula in this celebration of the changing of the seasons. As a great gray owl makes his way south, bringing with him tidings of the coming winter, the various woodland animals prepare for the approaching cold in their own way, chattering amongst themselves in the process. Only the faun, confused by show more the rush about him, remains unsure as to what is happening. Luckily, Mother Doe is there to explain, and to show him the way...

Although I wouldn't say that I found First Snow in the Woods particularly compelling, as a story - not that there was anything wrong with the narrative, per se, but tales about the changing of the seasons are not so uncommon, and this one doesn't really stand out - I was impressed by the photography, which was simply gorgeous! Sams and Stoick really know how to capture those magical moments when, their animals subjects seemingly unaware of them, the natural world appears all undisturbed. Some of the images here were simply breathtaking, as when the robin, surrounded by deep red berries, perches on his snow-encrusted branch, or when the chubby faun emerges from a drift with a snow-covered face. This is definitely a book that young nature-lovers, winter-worshipers, and would-be photographers will want to examine! show less