The Abominable Snow Dancer
by Steph Lau; illus. by the author
Primary    Penguin Workshop    48 pp.
11/25    9780593754375    $19.99

This rollicking slapstick-packed tale stars Otto, a yeti who excels at being a courageous abominable snowman but secretly longs to dance—a dream yetis do not ordinarily pursue. In an amusing opening, Lau shows Otto begrudgingly scaling a treacherous mountain and saving his terrified yeti peers from a fearsome mouse. He might be amazing, but he looks miserable. Otto truly comes to life only when he is alone, dancing and whooshing with blissful grace, smiling contentedly. However, when Otto dances in front of others, they laugh and he stumbles. One particularly dramatic tumble down a hill lands him near a stage where a unicorn dance company rehearses. Filled with artistic inspiration, Otto clumsily leaps onto the stage, much to the chagrin of the haughty unicorn choreographer. However, a nifty plot development requires Otto to save the day. With her colorful, fluid digital illustrations, Lau creates a delightful, comical world where creatures bound across the page with abandon. Her use of lively graphic-novel-style panels and speech bubbles lends urgency to the fast-paced tale. There’s a supporting fantastical cast, including Medusa, who has a bunch of quipping snakes on her head. When Otto achieves his dreams, albeit haphazardly, readers cannot help but shout, “Bravo!”

From the January/February 2026 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.