Anyone who's lived in New England for more than a few years will be able to tell you about "that" storm. It may not be the same one for everyone, depending on which state or region they're in and how long they've lived there, but of all our storm stories, we'll all have one that stands out from the rest. Mine is The Ice Storm of '98, when we lost power for a week and had to go live with my grandparents because they had a woodstove. 

For John Rocco, who grew up in Rhode Island, "that" storm was "the infamous blizzard of '78" which dropped forty inches of snow on parts of New England, complete with wind speeds of fifty miles per hour. 

Blizzard focuses on his experience as a young boy during this storm that left his family snowbound for a week before plows could get to them. We can sense his childlike excitement and curiosity at this new phenomenon, as he attempts to sled in snow nearly over his head, and later sits by the fire reading "Arctic Survival."

When the family begins to get stir crazy, and worse, runs out of milk to make hot cocoa with, young John comes to the rescue with a pair of tennis rackets for snow shoes to bravely traverse the way to the store. 

This is a book that New-England-raised children can certainly appreciate, and highlights that sense of ingenuity that many of us in the "frozen north" have had to tap into as a matter of survival!

Scrounged From: Our local library

Format: Hardcover
Author/illustrator: John Rocco
Pages: 40
Content Advisory: None

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The Golden Glow is a story about a fox who loves botany (originally published in French). One day he goes off in search of "the golden glow" -- a very rare flower, which (he is eventually told) can only be found at the very top of the mountain. 

The story takes its time in reaching this destination (though it's not draggy or overly wordy), including informational pages here and there featuring topics such as items for hiking preparedness, common flowers, trees, mountain elevation zones, etc.

I liked the illustrations, especially the color palette, though the "angular" way that most things are drawn is interesting considering how sleekness and curves seem to be the order of the day.

Ultimately I appreciated the message of the story, which is that nature appreciation doesn't need to mean possessing everything we find, especially items that are rare and beautiful. I also thought this story avoided the common pitfall of presenting important ideas in a didactic way. 

(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)

Scrounged From: NetGalley

Format: Kindle
Author/illustrator: Benjamin Flouw
Pages: 48
Content Advisory: None

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I was immediately attracted to the beautiful cover art on Red Sky at Night. The colors are so soft, complement each other well, and seem filled with light. The human characters in the illustrations appear to be paper cut-outs, so I took a look at author/artist Elly MacKay's website to see what she shares about her artistic process. There she provides some examples of the "layers" that she builds in a theater setting to create her images -- so cool!

The text of this book is comprised of "weather sayings," some of which we have probably all heard before (such as the title). The illustrations serve as the primary narrative, and depict a grandfather taking his grandchildren on a fishing trip. Since so many weather sayings revolve around the sea, this is a fitting framework for the text, and I really love the accompanying images, especially the one with the whale!

To be honest, I was a bit skeptical of many of these sayings until I reached the end of the book and found an explanation for the scientific principles behind each one. Of course, none of them are foolproof and some may be questionable, but when you consider that these were written by people, such as farmers and fishermen, whose lives revolved so closely around the weather, it makes a lot more sense. 

In short, I really enjoyed this book, and the beautiful illustrations have inspired me to check out more work by Elly MacKay.

(Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced review copy.)

Scrounged From: NetGalley

Format: Kindle
Author/illustrator: Elly MacKay
Pages: 40
Content Advisory: None

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Anne's Colors is the second Anne-themed book I've come across recently, the first being an Anne of Green gables graphic novel (see my review here). 

This adorable book uses very simple text, as well as illustrations made of fabric and embroidery, to perfectly encapsulate the charm of Anne of Green Gables in a way that's friendly for babies and toddlers. Each scene will be familiar to fans of the book, and highlights one item and its color (green for green gables, of course!). To be honest, I couldn't tell you off hand whether anything was made up for this book, because I have no idea whether, for example, Anne's puffed-sleeve dress was really brown or not! Not that it makes any difference to me.

Anne's braids are referred to here as "orange" which, while it may not match the book exactly ("red hair"), more accurately portrays that misnomer so as not to confuse children.

Some "items" are less concrete, such as "pink cheeks" which shows Anne angry at Gilbert grabbing her braid. But I don't think any of these selections were too contrived, and each manages to recreate a memorable scene or concept from the story, whether it's Anne and Matthew in the carriage, or the fateful party with Diana and the cordial.

(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)

Scrounged From: NetGalley

Format: Kindle
Author/illustrator: Kelly Hill 
Pages: 20
Content Advisory: None

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I know very little about "the art world," so I came to Monet: Itinerant of Light as something of a dunce, but I at least knew his name and knew he painted some of those pictures that were sometimes blurry or foggy-looking (my "artsy vocabulary" is obviously limited as well). But this book helped remind me of the little I had heard -- "impressionist" is the word for his style.

This is a graphic novel that covers the earlier (and more difficult) parts of his career, as well as his personal life at the time. I really liked the art -- the end of the novel explains how some of Monet's paintings were portrayed/given tribute to here, none of which I recognized (see the "dunce" comment earlier), but the illustrations were soft and detailed, with realistic facial expressions, and didn't feel "cartoony" to me at all (the way some graphic novels do).

As to the story itself, it's quite fascinating, though equally inspiring and heartbreaking. We see, over and over again, Monet's unwilllingness to compromise on his artistic vision for the sake of the "academics" of the day, and also his drive to be nothing but a painter and to master his craft -- paired with an irresponsibility with money which led to some fairly dire poverty at times. I also felt so bad for Camille, his wife, with the state of women's healthcare in those days (especially for those in poverty).

The framing of the story begins and ends with him as an old man, and so a large portion of his life is simply skimmed over at the end. I'm not an artist so I don't understand the artistic drive, but I still enjoyed reading about such a famous painter of the past, and his contributions to art.

(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)

Scrounged From: NetGalley

Format: Kindle
Author: Salva Rubio
Illustrator: Efa
Pages: 112
Content Advisory: A couple swear words, some nudes, one "bedroom scene" frame without nudity, and some thematic elements are mentioned/shown including drinking, an affair, abortion, a death, and extreme poverty. I'd give the book a PG-13 rating if it was a movie.

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