Millions of Snowflakes [Hardcover]

Mary McKenna Siddals (Author), Elizabeth Sayles (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 2 and up

"One little snowflake falls on my nose. It makes me shiver from my head to my toes." A little girl plays outside on a cold winter day, counting each snowflake as it falls softly to the ground. Bundled in her warmest snowsuit, she savors the snow, tasting each flake as it falls on her tongue, and makes snow angels. Simple rhyming text captures the joy of a winter afternoon while teaching basic counting skills. Exuberant pastel illustrations invite young readers to join the fun.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-A short rhyming text captures a little girl's delight as she romps with her dog in a wintry landscape. The heavily bundled youngster counts, touches, and tastes the snowflakes as they fall around her. Linda Brennan's Flannel Kisses and Lezlie Evans's Snow Dance (1997, both Houghton) both welcome winter in rhyme; their longer texts and larger formats lend themselves better to group sharing than Millions of Snowflakes. However, Siddals's book is perfect for small hands, and Sayles's evocative illustrations in pastels create winter surroundings made for playful exploration.
Kathy Piehl, Mankato State University, MN
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

As in Tell Me a Season (1997), Siddals has written a book for preschoolers with minimal, but descriptive text--a kind of playful poem about the natural world. This one, which rhymes, is about anticipating a snowfall, and all the great things a child can do in the snow, such as catching snowflakes and making snow angels. Sayles uses a cool palette of pinks, blues, and lavenders. Her pastel paintings begin small, floating in white space ("one little snowflake falls on my nose"), but the pictures grow with each spread as the snow fall becomes heavier--" millions of snowflakes in my hair" --until they finally fill the page. It's as if she zoomed in on one snowflake and then pulled back, expanding the field of view to reveal the complete scene of a little girl frolicking with her dog. This is a book, like Uri Shulevitz's, Snow (1998) or Ulli Steltzer's black-and-white photo essay Building an Igloo (1995), that will get an enthusiastic reaction from active young children. Kathy Broderick

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 2 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Clarion Books; 1St Edition edition (September 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395715318
• ISBN-13: 978-0395715314
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 7.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #346,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Pictures, Beautiful Words, April 13, 2000

By 

Dianne Soares (Northern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Millions of Snowflakes (Hardcover)

Mary McKenna Siddals has captured the beauty and joy of a young child's playful interaction with snowflakes. This is a book to read aloud with a baby or toddler on your lap. These evocative rhymes perfectly compliment Elizabeth Sayles lovely pastel illustrations of the uninhibited joy of a child in the snow. Millions of Snowflakes is a book that begs to be read again and again. It's a counting book that teaches the numbers 1-5. This however is just an additional bonus to it's value as a great read-aloud book for very young children.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quiet and magical - not unlike falling snow, March 29, 2000

By 

Lisa Scagliotti (Waterbury, Vermont) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Millions of Snowflakes (Hardcover)

I sought out this book to buy after getting it from our local library for my 19-month-old daughter. At first, it seemed like a snoozer as I paged through it at the library, but I added it to our pile anyway. It seemed timely, if nothing else since it was winter here. My daughter surprised me later when we opened it at home. Before I began reading, she pointed furiously at the pictures. "Boots!" She said as she identified the little girl's snow gear. Same with her scarf and snowsuit. She then proceeded to imitate the pictures pretending to catch snowflakes on her eyes, her hand and her tongue, saying "yum, yum" along as I read. She even learned how to make a snow angel from the illustration. When we were done, I often got her little "again" to go back to the beginning. So, I was wrong. It was a hit. A very soft-spoken, gentle rhyme and picture book that captures the magic of falling snow for toddlers.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully illustrated !!!, October 25, 2004

By 

KSL "emma-and-me" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Millions of Snowflakes (Hardcover)

I absolutely love the illustrations in this book! Elizabeth Sayles did a terrific job of capturing a young Asain girls romp in the snow! This book makes me hope it will snow a little this winter, just so my daughter & I can go out in the snow and relive the book together!