Un-Brella Book

A little girl opens an umbrella on a snowy day—and the sun shines out from inside and flowers spring from the frozen ground! Jump ahead to spring, where the magical un-brella provides snow for snow angels and sledding across the green grass. Newcomer Scott Franson's accomplished clever visual storytelling artwork showcases imagination, exploration—and a little bit of magic.

Children's Literature

A young girl looks out the window at the snow-covered ground as snowflakes fall, but then she dresses in her bathing suit, flippers, and sunglasses. Before she leaves the house, she also takes an umbrella. In this wordless story, we can see that it must be magical. For when she opens it, grass grows beneath her feet, and wherever she walks a path of green follows. She floats under it on a pond, then stretches out under sunshine. Snow gives way to spring and summer across the pages. Then we see her at the window again. This time she sets out with the umbrella among the flowers, muffled up for winter. And a path of snow follows her amid the trees. She can skate on the frozen pond and build a snowman. On the last double page she sees rain through the window. "What will the magic Un-brella do with that?" we wonder. Cut paper illustrations lend themselves to a range of decorative page layouts, while creating hundreds of snowflakes and many-petaled flowers. The trees seem cut from fanciful fabrics, as is the appealing heroine's bedspread. The double-page scenes are carefully designed to increase anticipation as we view the shapes and patterns.