Snow Day Friend: A Thousand White Butterflies by Jessica Betancourt-Perez and Karen Williams

OUTSIDE THE WINDOW THE U. S. IS COLD AND GRAY.

THE TREES WITHOUT LEAVES LOOK LONELY.  LIKE ME.

Isabella misses the trees, green with leaves and the warm air of Colombia, her Papa, and the friends she played with in the sun.

But today is the first day of school. She's already up and dressed in her new jeans and fluffy yellow sweater, with her schoolbag packed with brand new crayons she hopes to share with new friends. But her grandmother tells her to look out the window!

EVERYTHING IS SO WHITE!

IT LOOKS LIKE A THOUSAND WHITE BUTTERFLIES.

School is cancelled, and Isabella is sad. No new friends to share her crayons with today, she thinks.

"I HATE SNOW!"

But as she sits sadly by the window, she sees a girl outside, slipping and sliding, and suddenly falling down on her back in the snow. Isabella quickly puts on her puffy parka and stiff snow boots and hurries out to ask the girl if she is hurt.

"I MADE A SNOW ANGEL!" THE GIRL SMILED.

"MY NAME IS KATIE! SHE SAID. "LET'S MAKE A SNOWMAN!"

And there's no day like a snow day to make a new friend and learn to build a snowman, in Jessica Betancourt Perez's and Karen Williams' new A Thousand White Butterflies (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2021), and soon Isabella and Katie are making plans to walk to school tomorrow. The authors imbed Spanish into the text seamlessly, with meanings clear within the context, and also appends a glossary of Spanish words, while artist Gina Maldonado portrays the flow of emotions with empathy in her gently charming illustrations of friendship found. "An encouraging story of new beginnings," says Kirkus Reviews.