Winter Games

William Blackburn is a professor of English at the University of
Calgary.

An adaptation of Paré’s Plaisirs d’hiver, Winter Games is a
collection of quatrains, each describing some winter amusement, and each
facing a full-page illustration by the author. Text is of secondary
importance, however, for Paré—a winner of the 1979 Governor
General’s Literary Award for Children’s Literature
(Illustration)—has a deep respect for the capacity of even a very
young audience. “Children are sensitive,” he argues, “and feel
what an artist can say with images. The image must reach them. When the
image is explicit enough, what writing I have to add is little in terms
of quality.” Paré’s considerable talents, together with his regard
for his young public, combine to produce a very nice picture book that
should have wide appeal for beginning readers.