Customer Reviews

The Big Snow

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This book won the Caldecott Medal as the best illustrated American children's book in 1949. The book's color and black-and-white water color illustrations convey a cross between realistic images of animals and anthropomorphic facial expressions and poses. Each is done in a way that evokes the beauty of nature. Think of this book as having more realistic versions of Walt Disney's Bambi images.

The story serves several purposes. First, it recounts how many different animals prepare for winter. The geese fly south, which alerts the other animals to prepare as well. Most will grow heavier coats if they have fur. Some have grown fat on summer and fall food and will hibernate. Some will hibernate all winter, and others for only a few weeks. We even get the groundhog legend of groundhog's day included here. Others will stay awake all winter, and will search the woods for food. Others, like squirrels, have been storing food. The animals described also include rabbits, chipmunks, robins, cardinals, song sparrows, blue birds, wood rats, crows, wood mice, deer, skunks, raccoons, and owls. The winter habits of each species are described.

Then, the big snow comes and upsets those plans. The animals that do not hiberate and rely on getting food from the ground are suddenly hungry. How will they survive?

Fortunately, there are humans as well. An old man comes out to shovel his sidewalks. Soon after him, an old woman arrives to put out food for the animals on the sidewalks. The animals all congregate there. Both the old woman and the old man feed the animals throughout the winter, saving those ground-feeding animals from starvation.

This book is excellent for helping a child understand how we connect to nature, and what role we can play to help animals during the winter. Anyone who has fed birds in the winter has also fed squirrels (whether they wanted to or not). You obviously should follow the example set in this book and do some feeding as well. Be sure to feed throughout the entire winter, because the animals will become dependent on you and many are territorial. Also, they will need water if there is no open source nearby so fill your birdbath with warm water daily as well.

I also suggest you get a field guide to the animals that live in your area, so you can use the information here to spark curiosity in learning more about animal life. Naturally, you have to be able to identify the animals correctly as a first step, and field guides are very helpful for that purpose. If your child and you really enjoy this a lot, you might try bird watching with your child. Where the Birds Are is a good resource for finding great locations in your area.

Enjoy being part of the natural cycle of the seasons!

The story follows a linear plot. The animals begin to notice winter is coming and that certain things need to be done before winter arrives. The story tells the reader which animals can survive a cold winter and which ones hibernate. The story then peaks with "The Big Snow" itself and then travels back into the spring season. This is one of my personal favorites. I've read this book several times to my own children and my students. Coming from a state, Michigan, that has all experiences all four seasons also, this story brings back memories of my own childhood and the scenes of wildlife in preparation for winter and the feeding of deers, birds, rabbits, etc. The story is very strong in the sequence of events from season to season and the signs of the changing season.
Math - Sequence of events, number of month in a year, seasons. Science - Region study of weather, animal hiberation techniques, winter survival, how snow is made and maybe a habitat study. Social Studies - Regions and their seasons, map skills, topography,
Art - Snow pictures, animals, forest homes,

My four year old son loves this book, and so do I. We live on a bluff and enjoy feeding the wildlife, both in the winter and summer. This book taught my son more about the animals that we feed, and encouraged him to ask questions about them. We both enjoyed the illustrations.

The story follows a linear plot. The animals begin to notice winter is coming and that certain things need to be done before winter arrives. The story tells the reader which animals can survive a cold winter and which ones hibernate. The story then peaks with "The Big Snow" itself and then travels back into the spring season. This is one of my personal favorites. I've read this book several times to my own children and my students. Coming from a state, Michigan, that has all experiences all four seasons also, this story brings back memories of my own childhood and the scenes of wildlife in preparation for winter and the feeding of deers, birds, rabbits, etc. The story is very strong in the sequence of events from season to season and the signs of the changing season.
Math - Sequence of events, number of month in a year, seasons. Science - Region study of weather, animal hiberation techniques, winter survival, how snow is made and maybe a habitat study. Social Studies - Regions and their seasons, map skills, topography,
Art - Snow pictures, animals, forest homes,

This 1949 Caldecott Award winning book--for illustrations--has stood the test of time and still finds appeal among today's children. While kids may notice that not every page has color illustrations, it does not prevent them from being drawn into the story line beginning with the wild geese flying south signaling that it's time for the other animals to prepare for winter or to leave as well.

New teachers and parents may not be aware of this timeless classic which can be used with primary age students in talking about late autumn, deep winter or even Groundhog's Day! Although the animals have anthropomorphic qualities, their speech is congruent with what they would actually be "thinking" during this season. For example, Mrs. Chipmunk says, "...it's getting cold. It's time for me to retire." It's not as corny as it sounds, and any adult reading "The Big Snow" aloud to children may want to give each animal's "voice" a quality resembling its actual sound.

This children's classic works on many levels, not the least of which is connecting today's children with a book loved by many previous generations.

This is a beautiful story that brought back childhood memories of myself playing in the snow. As winter approaches the woodland, the animals prepare for it in their own unique way. The animals find that they have a couple of good friends that live on the hillside, when they put food out for them to eat after the big snow.

I recommend this book to anyone of any age, who loves the winter snows.

This story takes you through the process of woodland creatures as they prepare for a cold winter season. The animals notice the geese flying south and the leaves are beginning to fall from the trees which could only indicate one thing for them, winter is coming. The animals gather food, and build warm homes to cozy up in when the snow comes in.
This story is great for kindergarten children. The pictures are colorful and the text gives a great lesson in nature and how it works. Discussing what each animal would do to prepare for cold weather would be a fun activity to follow the reading of this book.

It's the end of the year, and the animals all begin their preparations for the winter. Some head off to warmer climes, while the rest do what they must to survive in the cold. Then the snow begins to fall, and the animals survive and thrive in a new and different environment. And finally they see that winter's grip is beginning to slip, and spring is right around the corner.

This is a very nice children's book. It tells a nice, gentle story that is very interesting, and yet tells the true story of what life is like for animals in the winter. Indeed, I must say that it was a really fitting book for this long and cold winter! My five-year-old really liked the book, and I was glad to read it to her. We both highly recommend it.

The Big Snow takes you through what animals go through when winter comes. The author of this book really showed his emotions on the pictures if you ask me. This book is great. You should read this book. The winter is very harsh and if not for two people they would have died. Will the animals be ready for winter?

I attend West Virginia State College and I am taking a children's literature class this summer. The book teaches how animal survive in the winter. The pictures are beautiful and very realistic.