wonS? by Jan Godown Annino

            Winter white here is a shower of camilla blossoms that we saw last weekend at a resplendent public gardens. At home, stalks of candle-like peace lilies & also, Christmas cactus trying to burst out in white minty shapes & the white pom poms of mums that channel their inner-daisies, make our snowwhite showers. Lovely, lovely. But not snow.

            It’s through the gift of picture books that snow is at my fingertips.

 camellia

             Here’s a sprinkle of snowy day titles to you, with wishes this winter for your favorite kind of snows all season long or as long as you want it underfoot.  (And if you don’t like snow… FL – or AZ, CA, NM & southern TX may be in your future… Just, sayin.’)

STRANGER in the WOODS. This was the first autographed snow book that came into our Florida home. I’ve shared this gentle story of animals approaching something new with several snow-wishing folks. Our first copy featured an artistic autograph from Michigan photographer Carl R. Sams II. He staged the story & photographed it with his art teacher wife, Jean Stoick. I bought our first copy in the gift shop of the famous Cypress Gardens near Orlando (now a lovely state park) & delighted in the idea of a snow book’s popularity in a snow-less state. This modern now- classic tale is also a video & CD.

We are pleased that other flakeful titles drift into our world, either for reading at school with BookPALS or piled like an annual igloo of Christmas books that we have at the ready for young & not so young visitors to enjoy in December.

The sweet classic everyone picks up is THE SNOWY DAY. So famous there is an award named for the artist-author Ezra Jack Keats, who won the Caldecott for it (& lesser known, wasn't a person of color.) Artists & authors of color have said how that as a child, seeing a child of color enjoying the snow helped them feel normal in an otherwise white-majority world of children's books in the 1950s & 1960s & that this book, above all others, was one of the joys of their childhood reading. It is a treasure. Here are some go-withs from a mighty fine site.

THE SNOWFLAKE SISTERS. This city- set story poem, by the esteemed J. Patrick Lewis, is cleverly illustrated with collage work by artist Lisa Desimini, who is my pal. But I would pick this cleverly illustrated book even so. Although the eventual outcome of all snowflakes isn’t brushed aside, the tale works for all ages. The collage materials, such as maps, make it fun to sprinkle "Going on a Hunt" games with your family reading of it.

OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW. Children love the idea of small, hidden, spaces & this picture book, written by Kate Messner and illustrated by Chris Silas Neal, takes readers into the hush-hush under snow world – meet deer mice, shrews, voles and others that actually thrive in this in-between winter world. It's not always that I learn a new term from a picture book, but Kate introduced me to a dandy one. Hope you'll find it!

SNOWFLAKE BENTLEY.  Learn about a real quiet child obsessed with snow, or rather, each individual flake that makes a snowdrift tableau. This is an award-winning picture book biography about a boy whose parents knew to encourage his snow study. Not only is it a mighty fine look at flakes, but it’s an exciting & sweet model, for picture book bio storytelling.  Written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin & illustrated by Mary Azarian, who earned the Caldecott medal for her quite fabulous woodcut snowflake artwork.

THE ABOMINABLE SNOW TEACHER. Artist-author Lisa Passen’s character, who is a fusty schoolmarm of her other picture books, Miss Irma Birnbaum, lives & breathes school. What will she do when a snow day is called & the children don’t show up in class? This is a silly snowy romp.

And as a bonus here is a snowflake craft on video, from a site I like, Cool School.

Your turn. Be a snow angel & if you have a title to share, add a snowy picture book suggestion here.
Snowflake Bentley is non-fiction so be thinking along those lines, also. I'm off to make some paper snowflakes.