Haas does for winter in this cozy tale what she did for the year's longest days in A Summertime Song
. The dream-like narrative begins with the appearance of a bird, smartly dressed in a striped frock, shawl and straw hat, who drops from the sky as lonely rosie-cheeked Bess and her doll have a tea party in the snow. The winged visitor introduces herself as Bella, and Bess invites her to share her rather meager "tea," consisting of cookie crumbs and melted snow served in a little cracked cup. Bella (who migrated too late, and frost on her wings caused her to fall) pulls out a host of tiny suitcases from which she extracts "babushkas for tablecloths, a teapot of tea, a beautiful bowl of just-baked buttery biscuits." The bright cloths and china patterns transform the small framed paintings from wintry grays and greens to a spread fit for a fiesta, and the tale's tone, too, becomes boisterous with the arrival of a truck carrying canine firefighters and, later, a mouse family. Haas suffuses both prose and pictures with a fairy-tale enchantment, as if the woods exude a wintry spell. The festivities end when Bess is called for supper, but Bella stays with Bess ("until one day it was spring, when birds return to their nests"), and when the bird flies home, a girl appears, asking Bess to play, assuring readers that the heroine will be lonely no more. In this charming tale, Haas hints at the magic in everyday moments. Ages 3-7. (Jan.)
