It is January in New England and we finally have gotten some serious snow that was snow and not just “crappy stuff” that actually stayed for a little while. If we could get rid of the extreme nasty cold temperatures it would be perfect. Yet, this not so nice weather has allowed me to stay inside and read. And as I was not in the mood for a “deep dark serious reading” for most of the weekend (though I did do at least one of those eventually), I found some of my picture book stash. Two of the books that were found were Snowy Farm by Calvin Shaw and illustrated by one Oamul Lu and One Snowy Morning by one Kevin Tseng and Dana Wulfekotte.
Snowy Farm has this odd cover that made me not sure what I was getting into. And after reading, I am still not sure what I read. For the right reader this fantastical, imaginary world will be a good read. The story is imaginative and while realistic, it is not set in an actual traditional reality (they peel and eat snow apples). There is the interesting art of Lu that you will like or not. The colors are nice, the images fit the text. There is an afterwards that is informative and helps you understand the authors process. I am not sure I would read that to the child it is aimed at (ages 4 to 7-8) but the older reader (and adult) will enjoy.
I then went onto One Snowy Morning which I figured was more realistic. And it was (if you get pass 
that the animals are talking and living in a woodland home/tree as if they were human but without clothes). But nothing odd there; just animals to do human things. Seen it. Enjoyed it. And there are cute illustrations to help this part of the text/actual story along. But occasionally that got awkward at times with pieces missing. Holes in the flow of the story and what happens to the snowman on the cover. The colors are bright, and details work to move the story into place. But again, like with Snow Farm, the right reader will enjoy and appreciate the antics of the animal characters.
A final wrap up: the theme of snow and the fact that both tales are Experience Books, tie these two books together. For the child reader, they will enjoy the straight forward and fun snow and friendship stories; whereas the adult will appreciate the time, effort, patience and imagination it took to create these books and then being able to experience the final product themselves.