Letters to 6-year-old girl create charming book> `Wind Dance’ poems celebrate cycle of seasons

A LETTER FROM THE SNOW, by Ellen Bryan Obed, illustrated by Gordon Hammond, published by Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, 1999, 40 pages, paperback, $10.

WIND DANCE, by Ellen Bryan Obed, illustrated by Shawn Steffler, Scholastic Canada Ltd., 1999, 40 pages, paperback, $7.95.

When Ellen Bryan Obed’s daughter, Keturah Emily, then 6, lost a tooth in the snow, mother and daughter composed a letter to the Tooth Fairy explaining the mishap. The Tooth Fairy replied with a note of her own.

This letter is part of the charming collection, “A Letter From the Snow,” with which Obed won the 1999 Maine Writers’ and Publishers Alliance’s 1999 Maine Chapbook Award. The competition judge, Newbery Award-winning author Lois Lowry, predicted that this picture book will “captivate an audience of any age.” That is an understatement.

The warm, cozy details of a little girl’s life are revealed in a series of letters from a diverse group of correspondents. The snow promises to make a drift for her to jump in and cautions her to retrieve the ball her brother left outside before it is buried. Her sled can’t wait to take her sliding as long as they avoid the steep hill which they descended too fast, crashing into a big maple tree, the year before. Icicles on her home’s eaves beg her to talk her brother and his friend out of knocking them down with rocks and using them as swords.

Her beloved Lambie is the author of two letters, begging her to take it sledding and asking her to put a pillow on her floor so it can have something soft to land on when it falls out of her bed.

Gordon Hammond’s black-and-white illustrations complement the text perfectly. His cups of cocoa with marshmallows steam enticingly. His star-spangled night sky as seen through a window with a bare-limbed tree standing sentinel conveys a sense of crisp chill. Lambie, in contrast, has the soft fuzzy look of a beloved — and real in the Velveteen Rabbit sense — animal companion.

If you enjoy Obed’s finely tuned sense of seasonality you’ll also enjoy her “Wind Dance.” A year’s cycle is celebrated in evocative poetry.

In “Summer Reading” a too-good-to-be-put-down book is splattered with sea water, sand and chocolate ice cream among other things. In “Ribbon Seller’s Song” ribbons from nature are the elements of a spritely dance. “I Love Rain” explores the rich dimensions of this much underrated weather event.

The easy come and go of rain,

The changing fast and slow of rain,

The all-around-me-mist of rain,

The quick wind’s lively twist of rain.

Fall enters with an ode to bonfires:

Orange dancers in the night

With grey scarves twirling in the sky.

The season continues with birds migrating and humans bundling up.

Then blustery winter barges in with bitter cold that chills to the bone no matter how many garments one layers on. Eventually people become weary of the icy night winds and blizzards “wild with snow.” As they become eager for signs of spring, the poem “When” asks:

When will the white of snow disappear?

When will the geese whistle green the year?

When will the whale whirl up the sea?

When will the wind whisper warm to me?

Although the sentiment certainly will be familiar to Maine residents, the allusions may not be. Obed spent 16 years in Canada including Labrador. Teaching Inuit children and marrying an Inuit, she gained a deeper understanding of their culture. It was a truly inspirational experience. “I love the land and the people. All images were sharper. A lot of poems came out of living there.”

Finally spring enters subtly and gently. The sun whittles steadily at winter in “Sky Carver.” Robin returns singing to a “red-breast sky.” In the final lilting poem children once again dance joyously with ribbons from nature.

Shawn Steffler’s illustrations in subtle shades of blue and white are well suited to the text, especially the blustery winter scenes.

Either of Obed’s books would make a perfect read for a crisp January day.