Penny and Her SledReview posted February 9, 2020.
Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins), 2019. 56 pages.
Starred Review
Review written November 4, 2019, from a library book
2019 Sonderbooks Standout:
#7 Picture Books
Another Penny book by Kevin Henkes! Huzzah! These are all beginning chapter books with plenty of pictures and concerns that mirror those of other young mice or children.
In this one, Penny is waiting for snow because she can’t wait to use her new sled. But – Spoiler Alert! – she waits all winter and it does not come.
Now, there may not be too many parts of the country where this really happens, but I had a special connection to Penny, because the last winter I lived in the Seattle area, when I was five years old, the winter before our family moved to California – it didn’t snow at all except for briefly when I was supposed to be taking a nap but was instead looking out the window at the falling snow that was gone by the time I got to go outside.
You see how it traumatized me?
So I have nothing but sympathy for poor Penny, waiting and waiting for snow!
[Alas! I'm posting this with winter winding down -- and this year in the DC area, very little snow has fallen. Would be a great choice here this year.]
Penny finds things to do with her sled while she’s waiting.
And eventually, Mama suggests Penny might wait for snowdrops instead of waiting for snow.
“What if the snowdrops are like the snow?” said Penny. “What if the snowdrops do not come up this year?”
“They will,” said Mama.
“That is what you said about the snow,” said Penny.
Mama was quiet for a moment.
“I remember a few years when it did not snow,” Mama said. “But I do not remember a year without snowdrops.”
I do love how Penny responds when the snowdrops finally do come up. She makes sure that her sled is involved.
This is great for beginning readers. There are five chapters and pictures on every page. And it talks about a universal concern – waiting.