The Snowflake

In this gentle tale of serendipity, originally published in the U.K., the paths of a child and a newly formed snowflake converge for some holiday sparkle. Noelle, a white girl with dot eyes bundled in a red parka and chunky blue knit cap, dreams of a Christmas tree like the brightly decorated one she and her grandfather, Pappie, and their dog admire in a storefront window on their walk home. Inspired, she transforms a stray branch from the sidewalk into a decorated little tree outside her own window, but it's still missing something. That same winter's night, a tiny, dot-eyed snowflake begins her descent--twisting and tumbling, anxiously seeking the best place to land. Davies's prose has an elegant simplicity ("The snowflake fell over tree-dotted hillsides./ She drifted over valleys and streams./ She hoped she would soon stop falling") as sweeping digital spreads ensure that readers will continue turning the pages of this quietly satisfying narrative. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)