The Littlest Snowman by
Charles Tazewell – 1955 – Pictures by George De Santis – illustrations 1958 by
Wonder Books
One of my favorite childhood Christmas stories is The Littlest Snowman by Charles Tazewell, a wonderful magical fantasy story. I remember after I was grown, asking my mom if she still had the book put away somewhere, but she did not. This was in the seventies before being able to find practically anything on the Internet.
I told some friends at work how I wished I could find The Littlest Snowman. One of my friends frequently went to yard sales and she completely surprised me when she brought a copy of the book to work one day. She would not sell it to me, but let me make a photocopy of it. It is the size of a “Little Golden” book, and actually is a “Wonder Book” and is only twenty pages. I was very happy to get the photocopy and even happier to purchase my own Littlest Snowman book online years later.
The setting for The Littlest Snowman is a town not bothered by the hustle and bustle of commercialized Christmas. Imagine a big crowd of people walking down the streets, following the mayor to the yard of a little boy who makes the snowman. When a special candy heart is put in place, the snowman comes to life. The candy heart is inscribed with “I love you truly.” This is a yearly ritual which the people take the time to participate in during the busy holiday season. The Littlest Snowman gets to flip the switch that turns on the huge Christmas tree in the town park.
The illustrations in this book are absolutely beautiful and were magical to my young eyes. The page with the illustration of The Littlest Snowman attending the annual Snowmen’s Snow Ball is a beautiful picture. I love the waltzing snow couples and especially the refreshment table with the beautiful colored icicles in bright yellow, red, purple, green, orange, and blue. The idea of the snow people having these colorful icicles for refreshments intrigued me.
The tearful weatherman shares some heart-breaking news with The Littlest Snowman. There will not be snow on Christmas. The Littlest Snowman comes up with a plan. He eats every bit of flavored, colored ice from the local ice factory, and so he becomes very plump. The colorful illustration of all the containers of colorful ice, again, were magical and beautiful to me. Then, on Christmas Eve, the plump, rainbow-colored little snowman climbs to the top of the big Christmas tree in the park and lets the wind blow him to pieces. There is a beautiful picture of the multi-colored snow swirling around the park giving the townspeople a beautiful, colorful Christmas Eve.
On Christmas Day, the people dig through the snow finding all of the white flakes and put The Littlest Snowman back together. His candy heart is found at the top of the Christmas tree, and when his heart is put in place, he comes to life again. The whole town has a very Merry Christmas Day. The Littlest Snowman has saved Christmas as he sits happily at the top of the big Christmas tree in the park all day. This would make a wonderful, animated Christmas movie; I wish someone would do that! What a beautiful, fun Christmas story that I have had the pleasure of reading to my children and grandchildren. Merry Christmas to everyone!
