A Snowy Day: Snowflake Baby by Elise Broach

SNOWFLAKE BABY, WINTER DAY.

SNOWFLAKE BABY, LET'S GO PLAY!

Snowy days are a miraculous transformation to the very young. Where did everything go? The world outside is hidden under a white blanket and nothing looks the same. What is going on?

Uncovering the mystery of a snowy world is the perfect subject for a sturdy board book with flaps to lift to discover what is just below the surface of things.

Baby is snowsuit clad and outside in a trice, and the revelations start right away. What's under that giant snowflake? Baby pulling his puppy on a sled and saying BRRRRR! What's under that snowbank? A cozy tunneled-out snow cave to play in! What's under that snow-covered evergreen? A little deer peering out at Baby and Puppy. And then we find a squirrel and a rabbit under another snowy tree.

But the next snow-covered branch has a different brand of excitement in store for Baby. Just as she reaches up for the branch, that snow goes PLOP! right in her eyes!

SNOWFLAKE BABY, COLD SURPRISE!

And, of course, after a snowy adventure, as every weary parent knows, the best thing is a warm bath for Baby and an early, cozy nighty-night. And what's behind the closed curtain in Baby's bedroom? Look and see? More snow falling just outside the window! Just wait until tomorrow!

Elise Broach, author of the award-winning When Dinosaurs Came With Everything, makes the most of her brief text with nifty rhyming couplets that will charm little lapsitters as they discover what's under all those flaps, opening in all directions, well designed by Cori Doerrfeld for little listeners to find a surprise on every page. Her latest, Snowflake Baby (Little, Brown, 2011) is a fine book for little ones not quite ready for Ezra Jack Keats' classic, The Snowy Day.