Home › Find a book › The Snowman
The SnowmanRaymond Briggs
The Snowman
by Raymond Briggs
Told without a single word: a boy builds a snowman that comes alive at midnight, shows him the house, and flies him over the sea.
A story about children and magical creatures, gentle and moving in tone. We would put it with children of 3–7, and at a reading age of about 4 for reading alone.
Nothing flagged
We have not flagged any content in this one that a parent would usually want warning about.
Our take on this book
A boy builds a snowman one afternoon, and at midnight it comes to life: he shows it around the house, and it takes him by the hand and flies him through the night sky over fields and sea and forest, before the morning comes and does what mornings do to snowmen. Raymond Briggs tells the whole story in soft coloured-pencil pictures with not one word, which means a very young child can read it themselves and an older one can narrate it aloud however they like. The flight is pure wonder, and the wordlessness gives the ending its quiet, unforgettable ache — the empty scarf and hat on the melted snow. There is no fright anywhere in it, only joy and then a gentle, real sadness that many children meet here for the first time in a book. For a three- to seven-year-old it is a beautiful, wintry, wholly deserved classic that says a great deal without saying anything at all.
If they like this, try these
Chosen by matching age, reading age, tone and subject — not by what is selling.
BeeguAlexis Deacon
ClownQuentin Blake
HugJez Alborough
Mr Gumpy's OutingJohn Burningham
Shh! We Have a PlanChris Haughton
Or let them write their own.
Nothing gets a child reading like a story they invented themselves. Your child plans the characters and the plot, and we write, illustrate and print it as a real book with their name on the cover as the author.
Find another book
Tell us the age, the reading age and what they like, and we will suggest a handful.