Retro artwork and ageless story

Small Walt and Mo the Tow is a nice story about friends, the fun and dangers of snow and helping each other out. It is also politically correct as Mo’s driver is a woman of color. However, this is not “in your face” as it is presented as very natural.  That is refreshing to have the story just “be” and not have to make a big point over “hey we’ve a woman driver over here! And oh yeah, she’s black, too.”

However, Elizbeth Verdick falls short in other areas. The fact Walt the Snowplow must learn to cooperate and needs to have help from a new friend feels forced at times. Perhaps, this is because the theme has been done before. Maybe because it comes “out of the blue” and I did not feel that Walt really understood why he needed help.

The nice thing about the book is that if your child liked Small Walt, the first book that showed how a little snowplow could do big things, they will enjoy this. Marc Rosenthal comes back as well to continue adventures of Small Walt and friends.

The other part I liked is I grew up in snow and this was a familiar scene for me. However, I do not think a child in Arizona has ever felt the joy of sliding off into a bank of snow, so this would be a fun introduction to how much fun snow is. It also would be a great book to add to the child’s collection that loves vehicles.