So Much Snow, an instant classic book of the wordless kind

Pity the white crayon. Those books or shows always poke fun of white because it can’t be seen. So Much Snow is a picture book that takes that thought, turns it on its head, and shakes it up for good measure. It’s a ridiculous, wonderful wordless book that takes the white, fluffy stuff that some people see in winter and makes it into a temporary Rorschach test for anyone who picks it up. Whenever a book crosses our desk that shakes up how you view things it’s a special thing, and So Much Snow does just that.

With the spine of the book facing north, you’ll see the title of the book, as well as, the outline of a house that is die-cut through the cover. Turn the cover up, so that it’s a vertical panorama and you’ll see snow that’s falling like no tomorrow against a blue backdrop. When the book starts in earnest you’ll see 80% of the page covered in snow with the remaining 20% rapidly being covered by it. The next page is all white, except for the outline of a yellow door opening.

Two people emerge from the snow-covered house and promptly start digging through the mountain of winter’s present that’s graced their home. They dig until they reach their snowplow, which enables them to dig a bigger tunnel much more quickly than they were. It’s a very long way to the surface via a tunnel that’s steeper than one might think. Once the two get there they decide to build a snowman. The size of their snowman is massive, dwarfing other winter carrot-nosed beings by a long shot.

It’s a simple plot. The beauty is a really great wordless book is how it can make readers stare at the book in wonder. In So Much Snow the magical part is that the book uses a majority of the page space as an empty canvas. The contrast or movement is done by the two duo-chromatic characters who are set against a sea of white. The story plays out in a manner that you have to think about it for just a moment, and then you see what’s happening.

There is also a gatefold halfway through the book that upends the way that readers had been engaging with its format. The scale shifts on numerous occasions, there’s action, and movement and it’s a wordless book that manages to end things with a laugh.

So Much Snow is a treat. It manages to tell so many details, without using any words and only using three colors, if you consider white a color. Those younger audiences might need an older person to help explain the book to them the first time they see it. It’s kind of like seeing a shape in the clouds or trying to figure out what that ink blot resembles. Some people won’t see anything, some might need a prompt, and others won’t be able to un-see it after it’s been pointed out to them.

As it sits, So Much Snow is a new classic children’s book that will be as groundbreaking for your children’s children, as it was for them. This is a fun, wordless book that tells a story that even those kids who have no chance of ever actually being snowed in a house will enjoy. Those cold-weather kids will get it the first time they see it, and pretend that their house is the one that’s been inundated with so much snow.

So Much Snow is by Hyunmin Park and available on Sourcebooks Jaberwocky, an imprint of Sourcebooks Kids.

There are affiliate links in this post.