If It's Snowy and You Know It, Clap Your Paws!

PreS-Gr 2--The Arctic menagerie from Ten on the Sled (Sterling, 2010) is bundled up and back for another rhythmic romp in the snow. This time the melodic text is based on the familiar "If You're Happy and You Know It" tune. It is perfect for singing or chanting about all of the vigorous wintry activities enjoyed by a seal, hare, walrus, caribou, bighorn sheep, and the rest of the tundra crew. Each of their many snowy pursuits is described in a stanza with strong, alliterative, and colorful vocabulary, culminating in a punch line with oomph: "If the skies are crisp and clearing, grab your skis./Give your tiny friends a ride behind your knees./If the skies are crisp and clearing/let a walrus do the steering./If the skies are crisp and clearing.../...grab your skis!" As the day wanes, the animal gang sensibly winds down, too, with a shared meal, bedtime story, and sleepover inside a cozy cave that sends them all off to their respective adventurous dreams. Watercolor, colored pencil, and pastel illustrations engagingly depict the creatures' fun and frolic, with many humorous details and illustrative subplots to pore over. This paean to winter fun will be enjoyed again and again in any season.--Kathleen Finn, St. Francis Xavier School, Winooski, VT

The team behind Ten on the Sled presents a rollicking twist on "If You're Happy and You Know It" starring a bevy of winter-loving animals. Norman offers 11 alliterative verses whose spot-on rhythms and rhymes make singalouds a given: "If your fur is full of flurries, taste a flake./ Skate around or make some angels on a lake." The verses build a narrative that involves an igloo that nearly drifts to sea, an outdoor picnic, and cozy indoor reading and painting. Woodruff includes lightly comedic moments throughout her mixed-media illustrations (a rabbit zips into its footie pajamas in preparation for a slumber party), which have a warmth that belies the midwinter setting. Ages 3-up. (Oct.)