SNOW ANGEL, SAND ANGEL
By: Lois-Ann Yamanaka
Illustrated by: Ashley Lukashevsky
Published: January 4, 2022
Publisher: Make Me a World
Fiction
When Claire has to do a project on winter, she gets frustrated because she has never even seen snow. That’s because Claire lives in Hawaii. When her father reminds her that Hawaii does have snow, in Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain in the world from seafloor to summit, Claire gets excited to go see it. So after the next mountain snowstorm, the family goes for a drive to Mauna Kea.
Unfortunately, it isn’t anything like what Claire imagined. The snow is more like ice because the snowstorm was several days ago. She can’t roll the snow into snowballs for a snowman or have a true snowball fight with her brother because he could get hurt. Plus they are wearing socks for mittens and towels for scarves. It isn’t at all what she dreamed about.
On New Year’s Eve, Claire and her family go to Hapuna Beach. Claire notices her dad making a sandman, much like a snowman, but out of the sand. They gather up shells for eyes and honeycomb coral for the smile. They play in the ocean and learn about the sea creatures as they float by from Claire’s mom.
Soon Claire’s father is calling her over and she finds him making an angel in the sand. They all make sand angels and remember the beautiful place they live and grow. As the sun sets on a beautiful day in Claire’s Hawaii, she remembers that her home is a place of lava fields, sandy beaches, rain forests, fiery volcanoes, sacred mountains, and even snow.
The end of the story includes a note from the author about the climate change concerns in Hawaii. She states that Hawaii is now called the Endangered Species Capital of the World by scientists. Many land, ocean, and sky creatures that only live in Hawaii are fighting to survive. She also shares a glossary of terms with pronunciations which I found very helpful.
Lois-Ann Yamanaka was born and raised in Hawaii. She is the author of many acclaimed novels. Lois-Ann believes that children need to “see” themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods in words and art. Otherwise, they do not exist! That is the extraordinary power of literature and art. As a child, she longed to see “real” snow, as she saw in movies and television and in Christmas cards and magazines. Yet, so much beauty already existed around her. She just needed to see the extraordinary amazement of it all. Today, Lois-Ann lives in Honolulu, Hawaii with her sixteen-year-old poodle, Bazo of Baker Street, whom she taught to do math.
Ashley Lukashevsky is an illustrator and visual artist from Honolulu, Hawaii. She illustrated the New York Times bestselling book ANTIRACIST BABY and has collaborated with various organizations. She believes that illustration and art can be used as tools to strengthen social movements and that collectively we hold the power to speak, paint, and draw into existence the kind of world we want to live in. Ashley currently lives between Los Angeles and Honolulu, Hawaii. Check out her website, HERE.
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Posted Under Ashley Lukashevsky, Book Review, Children's books, environment, fiction, Hawaii, Lois-Ann Yamanaka