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The Snowman
is a children's book by British author Raymond Briggs, published in
1978. In 1982, this book was turned into a 26-minute animated movie by
Dianne Jackson for the fledgling Channel 4. The film was nominated for
an Oscar for Best Animated Short in 1983. It has been shown every year
since and has become a part of British and international Christmas
popular culture. The cartoon version was scored by Howard Blake.
The book and film have no words, instead telling the story through
picture, action and music. This adds to their charm, as well as making
them easy to publish in other languages.
The film's one song, "Walking in the Air," was written specially for it
and performed by a St Paul's Cathedral choirboy, Peter Auty. The song
was released as a single, reaching number 5 in the UK charts, sung by
Welsh chorister Aled Jones, who also sings on the soundtrack of the
later re-released version of the film.
 The
Snowman is the tale of an unnamed boy who builds a snowman one winter's
day. (The day appears to be either Christmas or New Year's Eve, but this
is not explicitly stated.) That night, at the stroke of twelve, the
snowman comes to life. The first part of the story deals with the
snowman's attempts to understand the appliances, toys and other
bric-a-brac in the boy's house, all while keeping quiet enough not to
wake the boy's parents.
In the second part of the story, the boy and the snowman fly to the
North Pole — the song "Walking in the Air" appears at this point — and
attend a snowmen's party, at which the boy is the only human. They meet
Father Christmas and his reindeer, and the boy is given a scarf with a
snowman pattern.
The story ends after the return journey. Next morning the sun has come
out, and the boy wakes up to find the snowman has melted. The viewer
begins to wonder if the night's events were all a dream, but the boy
discovers that he still has the scarf given to him by Father Christmas.
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