Conflict Resolution: Pip and Posy: the Snowy Day by Axel Scheffler

IT WAS A VERY SNOWY DAY.  PIP AND POSY WANTED TO GO OUT AND PLAY.

WHEREVER THEY WALKED, THEY LEFT BIG FOOTPRINTS. THEY CAUGHT SNOWFLAKES ON THEIR TONGUES. THEY EVEN MADE SNOW ANGELS.  

The two friends, bundled up warmly in woolly mittens and scarves and waterproof boots, are having  all kinds of snowy day fun. They admire the distinctive snow angels they have made, and that makes them want to make something else--a snowman.

Working together happily, they roll up and stack the three snow spheres and add a smiling face.  But their warm feelings quickly cool when they try determine which kind of snow critter it is. Pip wants to make a snow rabbit with long ears like his.  Posy prefers a snow mouse with round ears like hers.

"SNOW RABBIT!"

"SNOW MOUSE!"

A compromise--one short round ear and one long pointy ear--looks simply silly. Tempers get hot and their friendship quickly chills.

POSY WAS SO MAD AT PIP THAT SHE THREW THE SNOW CREATURE'S HEAD AT HIM.

Push comes to shove, and the former friends are soon having a full-fledged snow fight!  Even the watching crow in each illustration seems to be croaking, "nevermore."

Their mittens soaked and their scarves soggy,  their friendship seemingly turned frosty, Pip and Posy are at a snow day impasse, in Axel Scheffler's latest tale of two friends, Pip and Posy: The Snowy Day (Nosy Crow Books, 2013).  It's time to leave the cold behind and warm up inside, where the two old friends chill out over cups of hot chocolate, in the fifth book in Scheffler's delightful Pip and Posy series. Scheffler's text is spare but sparkling, and his artwork and page design are admirable, with their heavy blackline drawings and font and strong watercolored drawings showing two old friends working out their differences on their own. Kirkus Reviews says, "Just the ticket for children who are developing social skills and learning what it is to be a friend."