The Jacket I Wear in the Snow [Hardcover]

Shirley Neitzel (Author), Nancy Winslow Parker (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Rhyme follows rhyme as layer after layer of winter clothing ("bunchy and hot, wrinkled a lot, stiff in the knee, and too big for me!") is first put on and then taken off to the relief of the child bundled inside. Clever rebuses and jaunty illustrations make The Jacket I Wear in the Snow especially fun for prereaders and new readers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Jaunty and appealing." -- Booklist

"One of the best of the current predictable books." -- Teaching PreK-8 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

In Her Own Words...

"My earliest memories are of my mother reading aloud. A lot of characters from books were real to me, as our family ritual included bedtime stories for me and chapters from longer books for the older children.

"I wanted to read for myself, so I often lay on the kitchen floor while my mother worked and I 'read' to her from memory. Soon I realized I could tell the story more exactly if I looked carefully at the words on the page. Spelling aloud the words I couldn't figure out, I worked my way through enough stories to satisfy me until our nightly reading session.

"I was eager to start kindergarten, and the day finally came when I walked the mile from our small farm in the western part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula to a one-room school. I watched eagerly as the teacher gave each child a stack of books. When she gave me only one, I was disappointed, but I turned it sideways and read the parts that said 'To the Teacher.' Then I carefully followed the directions. When my teacher said she wanted to talk to my mother, I thought I was in trouble, but it turned out she thought I should work with the first graders. That made me happy because they each had more than one book.

"My love of reading continued. In sixth grade I went to the 'big' school in town. The school had a room with one whole wall filled with books. Immediately, I decided to read every book in that library. A story I wrote was chosen for our school newspaper. I enjoyed people telling me they liked 'My Life as a Pencil.'

"In high school I won some essay contests, so I thought of a career in journalism. But I became a teacher instead so I could continue reading wonderful books for children. I encouraged my students to write, and sometimes I shared my writing with them.

"While planning one assignment for my students, I played with the pattern of the nursery rhyme 'The House That Jack Built.' My students laughed in the right places, and friends encouraged me to send my rhyme to an editor. It took a lot of courage to do that, but I sent it to Greenwillow. The editor-in-chief, Susan Hirschman, liked my rhyme, and chose Nancy Winslow Parker to illustrate it. Nancy drew little pictures to replace some of the words. The result was The Jacket I Wear in the Snow, the first in our series of rhyme-and-rebus books.

"Usually I start with a topic and decide how the story should end. Then I write little snippets of rhyme and, like putting a puzzle together, figure out how each part connects to another. Before I finish, the story changes many times.

"Sometimes when I read my books to children, one of them says, 'Read it again.' I think that's the best reward a writer can have."

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books; 1st edition (August 15, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688080286
• ISBN-13: 978-0688080280
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars book fan from oklahoma, January 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Jacket I Wear in the Snow (Paperback)

This book is excellent for children. Through all of the articles of clothing that he puts on, they can begin to count, a good math lesson. They can also participate while you read the story aloud through the pictures of the clothes instead of the word. I loved this book and am adding it to my collection.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Little Kids in the Snow, March 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Jacket I Wear in the Snow (Paperback)

Shirley Neitzel wrote a book called The Jacket I Wear In The Snow. The main character of the story is a little boy who tells a story. This story takes place at the little boy's house and it is in the winter. The book talks about the little boy and all the clothes that he has to wear outside. This book is different because it talks about clothes and replaces words with pictures of clothes, and it is in poem form. I think that the story is funny because it rhymes a lot. The illustrations are just like normal clothes, with a very nice tint drawn in with colored pencils. Overall, I really liked this story because it represents little kids and how they have to wear a lot of clothes outside, and that they cry sometimes when they get cold.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, December 31, 2010

By 

apoem "apoem" (Bosque Farms, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Jacket I Wear in the Snow (Paperback)

This is a lovely little book. The pictures are simple and add to the text of the book. As you add each article of clothing your child gets a simple math lesson. In addition to that the easy repetitive nature of this book makes it a great book for prereaders who can easily memorize and 'read' along with the book. Enjoy.