The New York Times Book Review
…Ellen Bryan Obed's perfect snowflake of a book…[is] an ingeniously crafted memoir of Obed's dreamy childhood in Maine, built around the 12 kinds of ice that served as successive signposts of the advancing season…Barbara McClintock's engraving-like illustrations, all black and white, capture New England's austerity and beauty in winter, and the swirling lines of skaters in motion.
—Susan Dominus
Publishers Weekly
Like a souvenir from a bygone era, this homage to rural winter celebrates the gradual freezing of barn buckets and fields, the happy heights of ice-skating season, and the inevitable spring thaw. Obed (Who Would Like a Christmas Tree?) crafts an autobiographical first-person narrative of a farm family and lists her dozen crystalline varieties in ascending order. “First Ice” glazes “the sheep pails in the barn”; a second heftier ice lifts “like panes of glass.... in our mittened hands”; another ice, thicker still, heralds after-school skating. Short-lived pleasures, like sinister see-through “black ice” on Maine’s Great Pond, give way to homespun fun on a DIY rink built on the vegetable patch. McClintock (A Child’s Garden of Verses) sets cozy mid–20th century scenes with her crosshatched pen-and-ink illustrations; children, bundled in woolly layers, imagine themselves Olympic figure skaters and twirl to the sound of “John Philip Sousa marches, Strauss waltzes, Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals.” This quaint volume could have been written 60 years ago, alongside One Morning in Maine and The Little Island. Today’s readers will marvel at the old-fashioned amusements, chronicled with folksy charm. Ages 6–9. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
- A Junior Library Guild Selection - A Winter 2012-13 Kids' Indie Next List Pick - Kirkus Best Children's Books of 2012 - Booklist's Editors' Choice list for 2012 - NYPL 100 Titles for Reading & Sharing, 2012
“[A] perfect snowflake of a book. . . this is a book about a young woman’s deep connection to nature and her family, but also the thrilling reward of pitching in together to create something magical” —New York Times Book Review
“Snug and elegant, evocative and fun, Ellen Bryan Obed's memoir from her childhood winters in Maine skates along in an aesthetic pas de deux, as you might say, with Barbara McClintock's graceful black-and-white drawings.” —The Wall Street Journal
"Evocative and at the same time marvelously real, this is as much about expectation and the warmth to be found in family and friends as it is about cold ice . . . Everyone will find this a small gem." —Booklist, starred review
"Irresistible." —Kirkus, starred review
"This is a celebration of play, of winter, and of imagination . . . in an icy collection whose overarching quality is warmth." —Horn Book
"Like a souvenir from a bygone era . . . Today's readers will marvel at the old-fashioned amusements, chronicled with folksy charm." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Delicate pen-and-ink illustrations enhance the action, emotions, and humor of each short description of ice and frost goings-on. . . . [A] brief but unforgettable volume." —School Library Journal, starred review
"The rituals and humor connected with a timeless childhood experience unspool seemingly without effort from author and artist in this intimate volume." —Shelf Awareness, starred review
“This is a joyful, spirited gem of a book, as bracing and glorious as a perfect stretch of ice.” —Joyce Sidman, Newbery Honor author
Children's Literature - Shirley Nelson
Readers of all ages will enjoy this beautifully written book about ice. Short chapters from one paragraph in length to several pages relate the author’s memories of ice and its role in the lives of her family and friends. As one reads the short vignettes, one feels the anticipation as the children wait for ice to form each winter, beginning with the thin skim that forms on water in pails. They watch carefully as that thin skin of ice thickens and spreads over the fields until there are thin strips on which they can skate. Before long, the garden ice has formed enough so that their father can make an ice rink for the neighborhood by adding water from the hose. Bryan Gardens provides winter entertainment through ice skating and hockey games, culminating with a huge ice show. The fun comes with rules so that everyone can participate. However, maintaining the ice requires much work and everyone pitches in. Too soon warm weather will come and the ice will thaw leaving the children to dream of next year’s ice. Exquisite pen and ink drawings, including a magnificent double-page spread, convey the movement and magic of the ice. Reviewer: Shirley Nelson; Ages 7 to 12.
Children's Literature - Carlee Hallman
Various kinds of ice are described with an eye for its skating capacity. Various stages of ice are noted: from a fragile skin on a water bucket, a plate of ice able to be picked up, to ice that stays in the bucket. The children skate on ice covering the meadow, ice on the stream, and finally ice on a pond. The five children and their parents create a 50' by 100' skating rink with boards at the side of their former vegetable garden. Then they spray it with water and make an ice rink. The neighbors come. Girls figure skate. Boys play hockey. At night the dad does tricks on the ice. They put on an ice show. Every last piece of ice is enjoyed until it is gone, and they find missing mittens and snow pucks. Then they dream of ice skating until the next season. Black ink drawings enhance the story. Sensitive young people will enjoy this celebration of ice skating. Reviewer: Carlee Hallman
School Library Journal
Gr 3–6—The coming of winter in the rural north brings ice. The first ice "came on the sheep pails…a skim of ice so thin that it broke when we touched it." Gradually as the weather grows colder, the ice becomes field ice, "short-lived but glorious…," stream ice, black ice from "water shocked still by the cold before the snow." The ice and its activities continue until finally it becomes only fond memories as the narrator and her family enjoy never melting "Dream Ice," the kind that can be skated on until the first ice came again, "a skim so thin, it broke when we touched it." The brief, lyrical vignettes evoke each and every sense as readers share the cold, feel the bumps on ice, see the creation of "oozing yellow sun spots" as ice melts, and hear music at the skating party and the noise of children playing hockey. Delicate pen-and-ink illustrations enhance the action, emotions, and humor of each short description of ice and frosty goings-on. Regardless of where readers spend their winters, they are sure to enjoy sharing the author's memories of the season in Maine in this brief but unforgettable volume.—Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at District of Columbia Public Library
Kirkus Reviews
Winter on a Maine farm offers the joys of ice in all its forms. Icy childhood memories glisten in this magical series of nostalgic vignettes. From the first skim on a pail to the soft, splotchy rink surface at the end of the season, Obed recalls the delights of what others might have found a dreary season. The best thing about ice is skating: in fields, on a creek or frozen lake and, especially, on the garden rink. In a series of short scenes presented chronologically, the author describes each ice stage in vivid detail, adding suspense with a surprising midwinter thaw and peaking with an ice show. Her language shimmers and sparkles; it reads like poetry. Readers will have no trouble visualizing the mirror of black ice on a lake where their "blades spit out silver," or the "long black snake" of a garden hose used to spray the water for their homemade rink. McClintock's numerous line drawings add to the delight. They show children testing the ice in a pail, a father waltzing with a broom, joyous children gliding down a hill in a neighbor's frozen field. One double-page spread shows the narrator and her sister figure skating at night, imagining an admiring crowd. The perfect ice--and skating--of dreams concludes her catalog. Irresistible. (Memoir. 6-9)
