Bear and Wolf

March 12, 2018
In a quiet story about noticing and the simple joy of company, a bear and wolfâboth shades of gray with sloping snouts and almond-shaped eyesâencounter 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 4â8.

Starred review from April 1, 2018

PreS-Gr 2-The story opens with readers positioned behind and a little above Bear's head as she gazes at falling snow, a circle of bare trees, and a small wolf in the distance. When the perspective reverses, viewers see that Bear is smallish as well. Highlighted with subtle strokes of pinks and blues, the snowfall creates an arresting wonderland. The narration, placed at the bottom of exquisite full-spread compositions, combines a third-person distance with moments of dialogue. Those used to conflict when two such notorious predators inhabit a story will soon relax: they both truly are, as Wolf explains it, "out for a walk to feel the cold under my paws, and to listen to the crunching of the snow as I walk." They proceed together. Salmieri's authorial debut reveals his thorough understanding of pacing and the interplay of words and pictures. Colored-pencil strokes create a lively energy in the creatures' fur and in the later view of the woods in a vibrant spring palette. Gouache and watercolor-and rubbed in pigment shaved from pencils-create softness and depth. Without comment, the companions take in dazzling, enlarged snowflakes; the patterns of a snowy owl; colorful fish asleep under the frozen lake. The call of nature pulls one to hibernation and the other to chasing caribou, but not before they exchange hope for a future (realized) encounter. VERDICT Without a whiff of didacticism, Salmieri shows readers how to appreciate beauty, invite friendship, express gratitude, let go, and walk in the world. An engaging read best shared one-on-one.-Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2018
A bear and a wolf share a wintertime idyll.In the first double-page spread, readers look over the top of Bear's head to a doglike figure in the middle distance, bare trees receding into the distance on either side to create depth. The following spread repeats the image, only from behind Wolf's pointy-eared head. Bear explains that she is "out for a walk to feel the cold on my face, and to enjoy the quiet of the woods when it snows." Likewise, Wolf is "out for a walk to feel the cold under my paws, and to listen to the crunching of the snow as I walk." The two walk together, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the forest in winter, all evoked in quietly powerful sensory language. Readers who have met Salmieri through his illustrations for Adam Rubin's hectic Dragons Love Tacos books may be surprised at the contemplative nature of this one. The use of gouache, watercolor, and crushed colored pencil gives his paintings a lovely soft texture, while the steady verticality of the trees and the consistent placement of text in a strip at the bottom of each spread lend them a feeling of calm serenity. The addition of pinks and purples to the grays and blues of a winter night chases away the bone-chilling cold.With its air of nighttime mystery, this is one that readers will want to revisit again and again. (Picture book. 4-8)

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July 1, 2018
A bear and a wolf meet in a snowy forest and go on a walk together, taking in the sights, sounds, and tastes of the wintry night. Then the winter passes; spring comes, and the two meet again for a springtime walk. The contemplative tone of the quiet text is matched by evocative paintings that are beautiful and serene.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)