Snow Ghost

This is a timely seasonal book. Two small children are depicted on the cover, gazing up at the winter skies as snowflakes gently tumble down upon them. Already as readers we are included in their joy of the moment. As the tale begins, the landscape is vast…and the text is small, giving even more space for the entry of the Snow Ghost. Mitton’s rhyming prose is just magical. He holds us in a pause, with his words of simplicity and precision as we enter this wintery world where the Snow Ghost searches for a place to settle and feel at home. Everywhere seems cold and lonely to her, and she feels unwelcome wherever she pauses. ‘But how to find rest, where the chilly winds blow and endlessly murmur BE OFF WITH YOU—– GO!’ She flies on till she spies a small country farm, high on the moors, where two children are whooping and shouting with joy as they play in the tumbling snow. A beautiful expression on the face of the girl captures us, as the Snow Ghost swoops down with a swish and a swirl, to join in with their games. Here it is making angel wings flat on their backs, a game familiar to many children who have experienced lasting snow. Daylight fades, and as they are called indoors, the children, with their spotty dog, turn and wave to Snow Ghost. She has found that for which she searched. As she settles down on the roof of the farmhouse she knows she is home. Her world was now steady and right. As with all of Mitton’s work, the text reads well aloud, and moves the story along at a pace suitable to the mood of that particular page. The colour palette throughout is cold; icy blues, greens and greys covering each spread, with snow crystals bouncing about the skies as the Snow Ghost scatters them in her wake. A book to enjoy around a fire, after an hour or so playing games out in the snow? A study of the endpapers will reveal a stylized depiction of mistletoe, a seasonal plant with mystical, historical significance. The leaves are veined in many different ways, some bearing the ripened berries, covered in hoar frost. All in all, a delight.