Two Drops of Brown in a Cloud of White

A child's joy on a snowy day finally helps her mother feel at home in their new country

A little girl and her mother walk home from school on a snowy winter day.

"So much snow," says Ma. "So monochromatic."

"Mono crow what?" her daughter replies.

Ma misses the sun, warmth and colors of their faraway homeland, but her daughter sees magic in everything -- the clouds in the winter sky, the "firework" display when she throws an armful of snow into the air, making snow angels, tasting snowflakes. And in the end, her joy is contagious. Home is where family is, after all.

This gently layered, beautifully illustrated story unfolds as a conversation between a mother and daughter and will resonate with readers across generations.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.6
Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

Saumiya Balasubramaniam's debut picture book, When I Found Grandma, illustrated by Qin Leng, was featured in the Globe and Mail ("Seven books to help kids make sense of the world") and by the CBC ("Kids books to look for in 2019"). It was described by Publishers Weekly as a "subtle, heartfelt story." Saumiya lives in Toronto.

Eva Campbell is an artist and illustrator who teaches visual art. She has exhibited her work in Canada, the US, the UK, Barbados and Ghana. Eva won the Children's Africana Book Award for her illustrations in The Matatu by Eric Walters. She also illustrated Africville by Shauntay Grant, winner of the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and the Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration, and a Governor General's Literary Award finalist. Eva lives in Victoria.