When Milo's mom is too busy to read him a book, he reluctantly heads outside to create his own story in Liza Woodruff's sublime picture book Once Upon a Winter Day.
Milo creates his narrative by deciphering the clues left in the woods surrounding his home: the footsteps and traces left by animals through the snowy landscape. Alongside Milo's investigation, a sweet parallel narrative takes place with the mouse whose footprints begin Milo's story: "A mouse was here," Milo says. "Did the mouse have a story to tell?" From this question come dual tales featured on alternating double-page spreads. While Milo imagines what must have happened based on the "smooth rut" he finds sliding down a bank or the tiny tracks he finds brushed away, the page turn reveals the animal behavior that left the traces: playful river otters and the wing beats of a red-tailed hawk. Using watercolor, pen and ink and colored pencil, Woodruff's soft, detailed illustrations move between Milo's sunlit morning and the snowy evening when the mouse makes its trip. Only readers are privy to both stories--and their delightfully satisfying endings.
Woodruff (A Quieter Story) invites readers to play an important role in their own experience of the story, as each animal's illustrated behavior requires interpretation to connect the dots between Milo's wondering and the outcome. Observant readers will appreciate the endpapers, which highlight the animals referenced throughout the book, and subsequent readings are sure to reveal even more clever connections. --Kieran Slattery, freelance reviewer, teacher, and co-creator, Gender Inclusive Classrooms