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Jan Woolf<\/strong> reviews the latest children’s book from Culture Matters<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>In homage to Raymond Briggs\u2019 classic book and animation The Snowman, this is a charming tale about snow. But whereas Briggs\u2019 theme is loss, the Gallagher\/Stewart one is diversity and unity. Aimed at early readers, it\u2019s also enjoyable to read aloud to those younger. Like good panto, there\u2019s always something for the Mums and Dads. <\/p>\n Satnam, a little boy from a Sikh family in Britain, sees his first falling snow through the classroom window, and is joined excitedly by his twin sister, Simran. This is magical stuff. Who cannot be moved by the sight of falling snow at any age? The language is gorgeous: \u2018White flakes were falling FASTER and FASTER, they were like tiny pillows.\u2019<\/em> The teacher takes all the children (small class size I note!) out to roll a snowball and build a snowman. The twins, helped by the other children, turn him into a Sikh elder, with a snowy beard (turning overnight into icicles) and a scarf used as a turban. Satnam\u2019s own topknot is hidden by his warming bobble hat, and other children\u2019s head coverings reveal their own cultural backgrounds.<\/p>\n The narrative departs from Briggs in an interesting way, as this is not about solitude. Neither is there a culturally anchored character like Santa. But there is dancing, singing and melting, and an excited, transformative expectation of return. Clear, poetic writing from Owen Gallagher and fine artwork from Fiona Stewart, inspired by, but not ripping off Raymond Briggs. The cultural references slip down nicely, and there\u2019s nothing didactic here, with this haiku style foreword \u2013<\/p>\n They fall from the sky<\/em> The four year old I read it to said \u2018I love it. So nice of you to give it to me tomorrow after you have told the others what you think.\u2019 He also wants to draw little faces in the snowflakes on the inner covers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jan Woolf reviews the latest children’s book from Culture Matters In homage to Raymond Briggs\u2019 classic book and animation The Snowman, this is a charming tale about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":509,"featured_media":13786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1661],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/509"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
one flake at a time<\/em>
longing<\/em>
to be put together.<\/em><\/p>\n