Landry, Leo. The Snow Ghosts. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. $9.95. ISBN 0-618-19655-2.
This little book, literally small, is remarkable for whimsy and lightness of touch. It's unusual, "minimalist" is what the back flap calls it. That's as good a term as any to describe the simple watercolor illustrations that bring to life these ghosts of the "far, far north." The transparent ghosts spend time catching "snowflakes on their little ghostly tongues," building snowmen, and racing on ice floes. Landry's conveys his idea of these ethereal polar dwellers in sparse prose of amiable expression, matching the tranquil expressions on their faces. Such a pacific world they have up there where "the snow is always falling" —makes you wish it were true.