I picked up this book because of the title (I have a friend who loves snow) and then noticed the second line said haiku (I have been writing them). When Yuko's father said to him "Poetry... is a way of passing the time," I decided this is a book of a different kind. My only disappointment was that the haiku translations into English were not seventeen syllables. Of course that would be exceeding difficult but I wondered if the translator even tried. I was so intrigued that I intend to get a copy of the French edition.