's No Day Like a Snow Day: Snow Day by Lester Laminack

"Dad, did you hear that? Did the weatherman just say what I thought he did? Did he say SNOW?

Oh, please! Lots and lots of snow! Just imagine! So much snow even the buses can't go!

No! So much snow the TEACHERS can't go!"

It's January, the time of year in which schoolkids suddenly develop a surprising interest in watching the local evening news and wait impatiently for the weather report in hopes that there'll be lots of snow--"so much snow that the buses can't go."

Lester Laminack's exuberant Snow Day! chronicles those snow wishes perfectly as the children dance around the television set in their sock feet, and dreams of the joys of a snow holiday fill the head of Dad and kids alike.

There'll be no alarm clock ringing, no one shouting, "Time to get up! Hurry up, you'll be late!" NO SCHOOL!

"I can't wait! Tomorrow we'll have P.J. Day. We'll pile on the sofa and snuggle under that old blue blanket. We'll sip hot chocolate from giant snowman mugs.

I NEED a snow day. A day to play outside. A day to read my book. A day to watch TV."

The vision grows sweeter--the hunt for mittens and snowboards and sleds, a fast downhill run with Dad, a snow fort with a zillion snowballs--and the weatherman is saying it's going to be very, very cold tonight. The kids even hurry off to bed, with sweet thoughts of waking up to a huge snowfall, so deep they can't even open the door, so deep they have to climb out the windows.

Then morning comes. Children's voices are heard outside already. Dad and kids race to the window. But look! No snow, just kids with backpacks plodding dismally down the street.

"Hurry, hurry!" Dad shouts, urging the kids into their school clothes. "We gotta go! I can't be late! I'M THE TEACHER!

Drat! I really needed a snow day!"

Lester Laminack's text and Adam Gustavson's illustrations capture all the joys of a snow day and all the disappointment of dashed snow dreams as teacher dad and the kids hurriedly zoom off to begin another regular school day. Laughs come as the reader realizes that the voice longing for the pleasures of a snow day has been Dad's, all along.

Yes, teachers long for a snow day, too. An even though it's a no-snow day this time, it's fun to dream of a wonderful day when the whole world seems to stop for a bit and we all sip that hot chocolate under a snuggly blue blanket.