Nature | OmniLibros

A young boy living in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands wishes for snow on his island and comes up with ingenious and impetuous ways to get it. He asks a policeman. He saves his money to buy a snow maker he saw in an electronics magazine. He has a friend in Belgium send some snow. And he even puts flour in the freezer and then throws it in the air, only to get “grounded until he’s old.” Cartoon-like illustrations showing US Virgin Islands architecture and landscapes accompany the rhyming text. A note about the US Virgin Islands and information about the story and author are included. mjw

Title: The Never Snowy Christmas
Author: Zenzi Hodge
Illustrator: Jonathan Brown
Publisher: Sandscript Publishing, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Copyright: 2014
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-0-9905662-8-1
Hardcover pages: 36
Age range: 4-8
Genre: Picture Book
Book setting: St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Author’s ethnicity: Born in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Author’s residence: St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Illustrator’s residence: Utah, USA
Subjects: Christmas, Dreams, Snow, Tropics

The wise owl begins telling the Christmas story, with its message of peace, to a gathering of birds. The young robin asks why the birds don’t sing the story anymore and the partridge explains that people don’t listen. When the lark offers that perhaps people don’t understand the language, the inventive robin suggests that children listen with their hearts and they understand. And so, the birds fly far and wide singing the song of peace. The tale is not a traditional Christmas book. It is a universal story of peace that brings people together. The book ends with “Let there be peace. Peace on Earth!” and the word peace in over 60 different languages. The rich, soft, and realistic watercolor illustrations in wintry colors awaken warm emotions in readers and complement the text beautifully. mjw

Title: The Message Of The Birds
Author: Kate Westerlund
Illustrator: Feridun Oral
Publisher: Michael Neugebauer Publishing Ltd. Minedition
Copyright: 2014 North American edition
Original Language: German, French
Original Title: Doe Botschaft der Vogel, Le Message des Oiseaux
Original Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 978-988-8240-55-5
Hardcover pages: 32
Age range: 3-8
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: Born in Florida, USA
Author’s residence: Salzburg, Austria
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Turkish
Illustrator’s residence: Istanbul, Turkey
Subjects: Birds, Christmas stories, Peace