Bear and Wolf

In a quiet story about noticing and the simple joy of company, a bear and wolf%E2%80%94both shades of gray with sloping snouts and almond-shaped eyes%E2%80%94encounter one another in the forest. After a startled moment, Bear and Wolf communicate calmly and affably: "Do you want to walk with me?" Bear asks Wolf. Salmieri works in a free and unmeasured style, rendering the forest in non-uniform shapes and loose, color-pencil lines, and dusting the winter white with dusky violet and rosy pink. On their journey, the animals smell the forest and hear the snow falling on their fur; they watch a snowy owl that also watches them. Bear and Wolf come to a "huge, flat circle of white," which Salmieri shows at a distance, capturing the expanse of the woods and the relative smallness of Wolf and Bear. They brush aside the snow to observe jewel-toned, sleeping fish. In a satisfying conclusion, Salmieri trades the chilly colors of winter for springtime pastels as Wolf and Bear meet again: "Bear and Wolf walked through the gentle breeze, using their eyes, and ears, and noses to take in the awakening woods." Ages 4%E2%80%938. (Feb.)