Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Lynch illustrates Robert Frost’s classic poem with moody, snow-filled watercolor and gouache landscapes. As the book opens, a lone, white-presenting human figure astride a gray horse stops mid-path to look upon the edge of woods filled with coniferous and deciduous trees (“Whose woods these are I think I know./ His house is in the village though”). The lines generally continue two per spread, but pause with a close-up of the subject, pictured with blond tendrils escaping beneath a broad-brimmed hat while crystalline flakes cascade. A tender moment with the horse, whose breath is visible in the apparent cold, brings coziness to otherwise frigid, largely solitary scenes. Later, as the verse slows, imagery shows the skirt- and boot-clad rider relishing the snowy surrounds. Rendered in a palette of blues and greens, Lynch’s illustrations artfully match the quiet, building depth of Frost’s work. Ages 4–8. (Nov.)