I haven't seen such amazing textured illustrations as the ones in Into The Snow by author Yuki Kaneko and illustrator Matsamitsu Saito in a great long while. Saito puts such care and thoughtful technique in depicting the protagonists of the story, the child and the snow, using oil pastels, gouache, acrylics and colored pencils. You can feel the child's unbridled joy, boundless enthusiasm and raw energy as he throws himself headlong into wonderfully white heaping snowbanks. Saito is somehow able to depict the snow's movement, liveliness, density--all in the two-dimensional limits of a set of pages. His lines and colors are warm and soft, almost fuzzy at times. Kaneko's text is simple and straightforward, written from the point of view of the child who is enchanted by and in awe of the snow. He is captivated and so is his audience, with Kaneko and Saito's glorious collaboration. I can't get over this wonder of a book. It is definitively and categorically a work of art. I can't recommend it enough!