  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 09/15/2011 Snowstorms, snowflakes, snowmen, and everything you didn’t know about snow is all here in 32 frolic-filled pages. In her typical illustrative style, Gibbons blankets the pages with information from crystallization to how to prepare for a storm. The device of painting the factual pages in blues and grays and contrasting them with full-color scenes of how weather impacts people is surprisingly effective. For example, the explanation of how snowflakes are formed is followed by a picture of a family bundled in winter clothing catching snowflakes. The factual stuff includes a map of where snow falls (on all seven continents), definitions of a winter storm watch and warning, and record snowfalls (6 feet 4 inches in one day in Silver Lake, CO, on April 14, 1921). Other tidbits are advice on how to stay warm outside and directions on how to see snowflakes close up. For families and classrooms, this is a crystal-clear introduction that illustrates how snow can be dangerous, but plenty of fun, too. - Copyright 2011 Booklist. School Library Journal - 11/01/2011 PreS-Gr 3—Written in the style of Gibbons's Hurricanes! and Tornadoes! (both Holiday House, 2009), this book grabs the intended audience with stylized bright drawings and short blocks of text. It addresses what happens when it snows and covers cloud formation, ice crystals, and snowflakes; a simplified map illustrates worldwide snowfall regions. Ways in which snow falls to the ground, such as sleet, flurries, and a storm, are also discussed. Pictures show children playing, building snowmen, and making snow angels. There are tips about staying warm and preparing for a snowstorm, and a simple project on viewing a snowflake close up. Back matter mentions Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley, the first person believed to have taken a picture of a snowflake, and the Great Blizzard of 1888. Libraries will want this as a general purchase for weather units.—Melissa Smith, Royal Oak Public Library, MI - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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