White Snow, Bright Snow

"I almost can’t believe this was published in the 1940s. I think the first time when I came across it, I felt that the text seemed much longer than you’d have in a picture book nowadays. But it’s still got those small moments I really like. Lovely little moments for instance, when the policeman buttons up his coat, and the wife makes sure she has cough medicine in the medicine cabinet. There’s a sort of adult suspicion of the cold weather, they are protecting themselves from the weather. Contrasting with the children, who just find it exciting and are out trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues. Yes! And then illustration-wise, this is white space used in a slightly different sense, he uses white space to depict the snow. And I can remember as a child being fascinated by this, when they’d have the Christmas edition of The Beano and they would have the white snow on the word Beano. I’d think, ‘How have they done that? That really looks like snow!’ In this book, the snow even covers the cars. It feels really fresh for me. It’s quite bold; the colour is striking and an unusual palette. It made me want to find out more about the illustrator, Roger Duvoisin. I started collecting more of his books. I really admire his painterly style. Another of his books is Sun Up (I think it’s out of print), about a thunderstorm coming. Again, it’s just choosing a single moment and turning that into a book. You don’t have to have loads of other things going on."