Waiting for Winter

by Sebastian Meschenmoser

Hardcover, 2015

Genres

Collection

Description

Deer has told Squirrel how wonderful snow is. But Squirrel gets bored with the wait. With his friend Hedgehog they pass the time by singing and waking Bear. Soon things are falling from the sky, but they aren't snow. But eventually they find what snow is.

Publication

Kane Miller (2015), 56 pages

User reviews

LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26

Originally published in German as Herr Eichhorn und der erste Schnee (literally, "Mr. Squirrel and the First Snow"), Sebastian Meschenmoser's delightful picture-book follows the story of a squirrel who has never seen snow, and who decides that this is the year he will correct the omission. His

efforts to remain alert, while "waiting for winter," awaken a prickly hedgehog, who joins him in his vigil. When squirrel and hedgehog's sea shanties bring bleary-eyed bear to them, suddenly there are three watchers in the wood. Eventually growing tired of waiting, the three decide to search for snow, with some hilarious results. But then, in a moment of indescribable magic and wonder, they finally see what they've been waiting for...

A lovely tribute to the winter season, and to the wild creatures of the forest, Waiting for Winter pairs a deceptively simple narrative with brilliant pencil illustrations, occasionally enhanced by paint. As another reviewer has noted, Meschenmoser's drawings seem rather messy and chaotic, when examined up-close, but the over-all effect is one of motion and vitality. The facial expressions on squirrel, hedgehog, and bear are priceless, and some of the wordless sequences are simply hysterical! Squirrel passed out on his branch, bear staring with sleepy disgruntlement - these scenes will stay with the reader long after the book has been put away.

Truly, this is a little gem! Now if only they'd translate Meschenmoser's two other titles featuring squirrel - Herr Eichhorn und der Mond and Herr Eichhorn weiß den Weg zum Glück - I'd be content!

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LibraryThing member dangerlibearian

Squirrel can not wait to see snow, he decides to stay awake for the winter. He wakes Hedgehog, together they wake Bear. They all decide to find snow, but since none of them know what snow is they have a hard time finding it, until snow falls from the sky. Lovely illustrations, sweet story.

LibraryThing member sskatherine

This tells the story of a squirrel who has never seen snow before. He enlists his friends Bear and Hedgehog to wait with him so they can see the first snow of winter. The illustrations are unique and reminiscent of a sketch book. The typography is eye catching and the changes in font size infer

different moods of the characters. I feel this would be a fun book to read out loud as entertainment, but it does not contain content that could be connected to a lesson. It seems like it would be fun to get students involved in the reading of this story, and I think they would find the part where the three animals think they have found snow (An old sock! A tin can! A used toothbrush) to be especially amusing.

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LibraryThing member shazam79

super cute book, but did not capture the kid's attention at all during storytime....

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