Review of "A Freezing Ski Trip" by Tuula Pere, PhD

Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)

A Freezing Ski Trip is a charming, adventure-filled, and—at times—tense children's book by the incomparable Tuula Pere!

At its core, this is really a book about the unique love and connection between siblings. It is also a book about budding independence, exploring one's limits and boundaries, and children leaving the nest and trying new things.

It's also a bit of a cautionary tale about recognizing safety hazards and other dangers and recognizing one's present limitations (and adjusting accordingly).

In Utah, there are many cases of people who go missing during adventures into the Wasatch Mountains—home of the greatest snow on Earth. We also know of many tragedies in which skiers are grievously injured—some irreparably—or even killed in skiing accidents. It's a high-risk, high-reward sport with the environment and conditions always being unpredictable. While this can make it fun and exciting (serving as a challenge), it can also present great risks. So, this story resonated a lot with us.

The book follows two children, a brother and a sister named Liam and Lily. Liam is the older, more responsible, more cautious, and more skilled/experienced one (in terms of skiing). On the other hand, Lily is a young maverick and a risk-taker. She's quite a daredevil, for better or for worse!

Liam and Lily embark on their first skiing trek together independent from their parents. As you might expect, their parents show some worry and concern, but Liam and Lily reassure them. As a parent, you can't always be there physically for your children. You might want them to always be protected and always be safe (which parent doesn't want that), but you also have to let them explore, adventure, and make their own mistakes. It's part of the growing up process.

The best you can do is raise them right, teach them, and trust them to make the best decisions possible. And there will be times when they ignore you, argue with you, or do the opposite of what you taught/instructed. That's part of the learning and growing up process.

Well, Lily (and, by extension, Liam) learns a hard lesson about throwing caution to the wind in this book. Lily, growing impatient due to apparent hunger (or an appetite for sausages), leads them off the beaten path in attempt to get to the food sooner, seeing it as a shortcut. Making things worse, she also ignores an elderly couples warnings that the slope is very steep and dangerous.

Liam does his best to advise his little sister, but respects her independence. Being a good big brother, he goes along with her and does his best to encourage, protect, and look after her.

Lily's stunt causes a lot of snowballing problems including one of her skis breaking and getting to the cottage rather late, finding it closed due to water damage.

What's very beautiful about all of this is how the siblings—despite their different personalities—still bond together to get through these challenges. In particular, Liam proves to be a great big brother, trying his best to fix Lily's ski and encouraging her when she's afraid or doubting herself.

He knows that she draws courage and a higher morale from his positive attitude.

So, the two siblings are able to endure long enough for rescuers, prompted by the parents of the siblings, to find them.

This is really a beautiful story!

It's also elevated by the colorful and stylish art by Catty Flores, a mainstay in Tuula Pere's children's books.

Check it out on Amazon!