Stella, Queen of the Snow

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Little Sam is seeing snow for the first time and naturally he has a lot
of questions. Is snow cold? What do snowmen eat? Do frogs snore when
they sleep under a frozen pond? Where does snow go in the summer? Do
birds get goosebumps? Do snow angels sing? Fortunately, his big sister,
Stella, is Queen of the Snow and what she does not know about winter she
is completely prepared to make up. Snow is as cold as vanilla ice cream,
she says, and soft as baby rabbit fur. Snowmen eat snowballs, snow peas,
and snowsuits (but only pink ones). Birds don’t get goosebumps because
they wear snowboots just like Sam’s, only much smaller.

This is the second Stella adventure by award-winning author/illustrator
Marie-Louise Gay. As in the first adventure, Stella, Star of the Sea
(1999), Gay’s soaring imagination and offbeat humor launch the reader
into a wonderful new landscape of childlike make-believe. Looking
through Sam and Stella’s eyes, a simple winter day is a new found land
of wonder and magic. Gay’s prose hits you like an avalanche of
soft-packed snowballs. Her illustrations feature winter landscapes that
are drawn from a child’s point of view and populated by droll
pumpkin-headed characters with wild hairstyles. Stella, Queen of the
Snow will be in demand during all seasons of the year. Highly
recommended.