In this handsomely illustrated and designed book, a jolly white-bearded man in red plaid carries in his sleigh gifts of food for forest animals. This added element--as well as a certain homely sentimentality--seem incongruous with the poet's essential reticence. This edition features a smaller format, three new spreads, and more detail and color than the original book. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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.)

Gr 1--4--Frost's iconic poem is brought to life through luminous illustrations. Students sometimes struggle with poetic language, but Lynch has done a marvelous job slowing the pace of the poem down by spreading its text out in small pieces and augmenting the rich language with illustrations, which will make it easier to absorb the sensory details so quietly evoked by the words. For those who do not have firsthand experience of a snowy evening on horseback, large spreads transport readers to scenes of snow and moonlight. By using dramatic lighting, close-ups of both rider and her anxious horse, along with highly effective page turns, the drama of a wintry evening and the quiet beauty of the woods is masterfully depicted. VERDICT Featuring a brave child taking the journey through the woods, this is a gorgeous rendering that will bring the poem to life for a new generation and even encourage young poets to stop and notice their world with a lyrical, illustrative lens.--John Scott

A picture-book adaptation of Frost's pensive poem. Its four rhyming quatrains are divided into six couplets interleaved with several wordless double spreads; the last four lines each appear on a separate page. Notably, Lynch visually subverts several of the poem's customary narrative interpretations, depicting a young, light-skinned rider astride a dappled gray horse. While the poem's line "He gives his harness bells a shake" implies a horse-drawn wagon, Lynch supplies a bell-trimmed bridle instead. Such innovations shift the poem's authorial voice away from that of the venerable poet, adding a fresh layer of mystery to the purpose of this traveler's journey. The narrator's clothing, suggestive of the late 19th or early 20th century, includes a long dress, a belted jacket, a sturdy, wide-brimmed hat, and thick work gloves; a bedroll is stowed behind the saddle. Where the poem mildly personifies the horse, who "must think it queer / To stop without a farmhouse near," Lynch depicts the dismounted rider fondly cradling the animal's head as twin puffs of breath exit his nostrils. Belying this "darkest evening of the year," Lynch illuminates the blue-grays of snow-laden conifers and frozen lake with a pallid gold winter sunset and a fleeting moon. Variable perspective--from bird's-eye to close-up--bestows a quasi-cinematic sense as the coming dawn draws the rider's furtive look. Endpapers bracket the journey, from twilit village to sunup, horse and rider long gone. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Lovely pictures newly elucidate this renowned, euphonious work. (Picture book/poetry. 5-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.