"Cold Snap," by Eileen Spinelli, and More Toppling into a snowbank in "Cold Snap." Writing a children's book about snow is no small order, given that one of the most memorable children's books of all time, "The Snowy Day," by Ezra Jack Keats, so definitively owns the subject. The book's freshness is all the more startling given that it celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. But there will always be new takes on the subject, whether decidedly nostalgic ones, as in two new books, "Cold Snap" and "Twelve Kinds of Ice," or contemporary ones, as "The Snowy Day" was in its time and "A Perfect Day" is now. By Eileen Spinelli Illustrated by Marjorie Priceman Alfred A. Knopf. $17.99. Written and illustrated by Carin Berger Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins Publishers. $16.99. By Ellen Bryan Obed Illustrated by Barbara McClintock Could there be any pleasure more timeless than a book that sparkles? It's always nice when the prose shines, but "Cold Snap," written by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman, is going for a more literal dazzle: its snow-scene cover glints with tiny flecks of ice-blue glitter, providing the kind of visual that will entrance readers before they have heard so much as a single word of text. To its credit, the story, too, reflects a deep understanding of what is most likely to tickle the fancy of children. As a cold snap in the village of Toby Mills gets worse, the icicle on the nose of a local statue gets longer; the mayor is spied at his office getting cozy in pink bunny slippers; and Pastor Pickthorn's dog, Mugs, begs "for his fuzzy red coat - the one he had balked at wearing before." In the age of global warming, a cold snap seems to serve as the perfect premise for a tale imbued with deep nostalgia. Heavy on Americana, "Cold Snap" evokes fabled small-town values, the kind inevitably described as bygone but more accurately called idealized. It is a place where the Sullivan Sisters knit mittens the size of flap-jackets for all the children in town, and locals accept the mayor's invitation to a "winter surprise" because, as a certain Mrs. Moffat says, "It's our civic duty." Priceman, who is perhaps best known for the lively illustrations of "Zin! Zin! A Violin," brings the same antic energy to the chilly but cheery people of Toby Mills, and Spinelli alternates gags with tender moments. A woman bakes her husband's birthday cake elsewhere rather than disturb a family of mice seeking heat in her oven; and readers may forever see the moon on icy nights as Spinelli describes it: "silver as sleet." If "Cold Snap" is the Sears Roebuck of snow stories, "A Perfect Day," by the designer and illustrator Carin Berger, is straight out of Etsy. Its tiny Penguin-like collage-based figures - Sasha and Max and Thea among them - are visions in twill and plaid and striped tights. Its snowy scenes are so tasteful that an icicle stand opened by young Charlotte looks like some outdoor pop-up shop that a contestant on Bravo might have designed (even the sign on the stand is subtle but snazzy). In this book for toddlers, or for older children with a good eye, the text is mostly a setup for the unusual and beautiful images, as Berger follows a day's progress from the first pristine scene of morning to the evening's moody landscape, imprinted with the hollows of snow angels and glowing with warm lamplight. "A Perfect Day," though spare in words, evokes the greatest hits of snowy days, from steaming cups of hot chocolate to snowball fights. Its images - stark trees and strangely shaped clouds - capture something more elusive, the eerie otherworldliness of a landscape transformed. Berger creates the backgrounds of her collages using faded old receipts and other ephemera. Children may not even notice the ghostly scrawlings, but for adults they serve as a reminder of the contrast between the concerns of grown-ups (bills, balances, investments) and those of the Finns and Sophies who populate this snowy world. Susan Dominus is a staff writer at The Times Magazine.