The Friendly Snowflake - Tapa dura

For his first foray into children's book writing, bestselling author Peck ( The Road Less Traveled ) has concocted a slender, self-conscious story. A snowflake lands on young Jenny's nose and she names it Harry. This seemingly insignificant happening causes the reflective child to ponder the concepts of chance, the soul and the interrelatedness of all things. In what often seems like a Sunday school tableau, Jenny's parents are endlessly didactic. (Her father, for instance, says, "Some questions are so big you shouldn't take anyone else's answer for them.") The reader is left with the final image of a small stream leading to a river leading to the ocean; Jenny wonders if this is like veins leading to a human heart. Don't expect youngsters to sit through this prattle more than once. Similar universal themes have been more thoughtfully hidden--and/or revealed--to better effect in other works. In his illustrative debut, Christopher Peck's delicately attractive pictures are sprinkled throughout the text. All ages.

M. Scott Peck, M.D. is the author of the New York Times best-seller The Road Less Traveled, with six million copies in print. His other books includeFurther Along the Road Less Traveled, The Road Less Traveled and Beyond, Meditations from the Road and Golf and the Spirit.

Ariel Books has consistently produced high-quality, small-format gift books with their contemporary style and content. They have established a successful track record in their Little Book, Tiny Tome, Quote-a-Page, Oblong, Monterey, Tuscany, and Spotlight gift book lines.