Blizzard

by John Rocco

A two-day blizzard left four feet of snow on the ground of author/illustrator John... read more

A two-day blizzard left four feet of snow on the ground of author/illustrator John Rocco’s hometown when he was a child. He recounts that time in a picture book in which the storm is just the prelude to adventure. On Monday and Tuesday it snowed. On Wednesday, “Dad shoveled the driveway so he could get the car out when the snowplows came.” But the plows didn’t come. By Friday, the cupboards were getting bare. Young John researched, gathered supplies, and practiced for the journey he embarked upon the next day. With tennis rackets strapped to his feet for snowshoes, he set off for the store, pulling a sled behind him. A double-page spread with fold-outs on either side creates a four-page map of his route, noting his diversions (e.g., building a snowman, making a snow angel, joining in on a snowball fight). He stopped by neighbors and took their orders for groceries, too, and with the sun setting eventually returned home, tired and triumphant. Rocco’s marvelous mixed-media art captures the sense of a winter storm and its aftermath in pictures ranging from panels and spot illustrations to the four-page display, all of it perfectly paired with the finely paced narrative. A brief author’s note tells a few additional details of his experiences as a ten-year-old boy in the Blizzard of 1978. (Ages 4–8)

© Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2015

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