Published Reviews
Dream Snow- “The venerable and prolific Carle (Hello, Red Fox, 1998, etc.) offers
a quiet Christmas story with a little music at the end. A farmer lives alone
on a small farm with so few animals that he calls them One, Two, Three, Four,
and Five. Oh, he also has a tree named Tree. One night near Christmas he falls
asleep in his favorite chair after his peppermint tea, and dreams that he
is covered in a white blanket. On successive pages, One the horse, Two the
Cow, Three the sheep, and so on are each covered in a snowflake blanket, accomplished
by an acetate page of flakes and an amorphous shape that when turned reveals
the animal. When the farmer awakes and finds it has snowed for real, he dresses
himself warmly, decorates Tree, and strews gifts for all five animals under
it. When he shouts “Merry Christmas to all!” he pushes a button that children
can push, producing a lovely Yuletide tinkle. The pictures are in Carle’s
trademark richly colored and textured collages that capture the snowy magic
of Christmas. Adults may be charmed to see that Carle dedicates the book to
Barry Moser, who modeled for the farmer, although from the photo on the back
cover Carle and Moser could pass for brothers with their shiny pates and neat
white beards. Cotton candy.”
- Kirkus Review
- “Eric Carle claimed that he would never write a Christmas book, but
the idea for a story pushed its way into his consciousness and resulted in
Dream Snow. A farmer lived a very quiet life with his animals named One, Two,
Three, Four and Five. He cared for them and then spent his evenings relaxing
with a cup of hot tea and honeyed bread. One Christmas Eve he fell asleep
and dreamed that he and all of his animals were covered with a blanket of
snow. Acetate overlays with snow flakes and a blanket of snow cover each of
the animals as the story progresses. When he woke up the world was indeed
covered with snow. The farmer dressed warmly in his red jacket and black boots
and proceeded to set out presents for his animals under a tree that he had
decorated. On the last page, kids push a button and get a little tune to accompany
the visual feast. A charming story filled with plenty of wonderful signature
Carle collages.”
- Children’s Literature
Return to the Eric Carle Bibliography
