#147 of 1001 · December 25, 2020

Christmas has arrived. I hope that everyone has been able to spend this day in comfort and warmth, surrounded by their loved ones. As I perused my bookshelves today, my eye lit on The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. In this wordless picture book, a young boy heads outside on a cold winter’s day to build a snowman. That night, to his surprise, his creation comes to life, and the two of them spend a magical evening together exploring the house and then flying across the sky. Briggs’ soft pencil drawings, laid out in comic-strip-style grids, neatly evoke action and emotion. The unforgettable final image, utterly heart-wrenching yet in retrospect inevitable, is surely one of the purest and saddest endings in the history of children’s literature. Merry Christmas. #raymondbriggs #thesnowman #snowman #snow #christmas #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcover #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks