First, anyone who reads with children knows that the book jacket is the *first* thing to go with a book-either removed by parents right off the bat, torn off by the youngster, or somehow otherwise irretrievably lost in the shuffle after the first reading. WHO designed such a thing? It must be a joke. Its worst offense, however, is that the reverse side of the book jacket contains the key for the whole search-and-find element.

Most are VERY HARD to find, even for adults, so I see it as more frustrating than fun for kids. However, the 'hidden pictures on every page' element is horrible in every sense but the theoretical. And really, the fact that such essential information as the key to the hidden objects is located on something which especially in picture books often tends to not last, to me this is indeed and in fact rather an insult to children and parents, or at the very least, it shows that the publisher has not really taken the truth of the matter that young children will often be rough on their picture books seriously enough.Ĭheesy (of course!) but fun. And yes, considering that many readers do rely on library books, and that dust jackets on picture books also often do not survive repeated readings and rough handling, it probably would have been a far better idea for the publisher to have placed the key to the hidden objects within the actual pages of Snowmen at Work.

And a huge part of the problem is (I believe) that the key to the hidden objects is on the inside flap of the dust jacket, and since I am reading a library book, where the dust jacket is fused onto the book, I am, of course, not able to peruse the key for the hidden objects. Now Snowmen at Work is also supposed to be a hidden object book, and while I have managed to locate a select few of these, most of the hidden objects, I have unfortunately been unable to successfully find. That is not to say, that Mark Buehner's illustrations are lacking in any respect (in fact, I do think that they both compliment and complement his wife's text), simply that for me, personally, his pictures just do not work all that well (and no, I am of course not frightened by broad lump of coal snowmen smiles any longer, but they still tend to give me somewhat a case of the shivers). As a child, I was actually often frightened by the rigid, often wide (gaping) smiles shown on many snowmen, and even now, as an adult, the smiles of the snowmen in Snowmen at Work tend to creep me out a bit. While I do find Caralyn Buehner's narrative (her presented text for Snowmen at Work) enchanting and sweet enough and especially the many clever plays on words (for they are both humorous and slyly imaginative, even though the rhymes do at times have a tendency to be more than a bit awkward and stumbling), I really do not at ALL enjoy the illustrated broad lump of coal smiles of the depicted and featured snowmen.

Snowmen All Year by Caralyn Buehner