Snow Amazing: Cool Facts and Warm Tales [Hardcover]

Jane Drake (Author), Ann Love (Author), Mark Thurman (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 2004 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Jane Drake and Ann Love, the acclaimed authors of Cool Woods: A Trip Around the World’s Boreal Forest, explore the fascinating, beautiful, and sometimes dangerous world of snow. They write about snow as a habitat, the significance of snow on the environment, snow’s impact on the people and animals who live in it, and snow stories and lore from around the world.

From the science of snow to the magic of a winter wonderland, this book is a comprehensive must-read. Not only is the information presented with clarity and brisk good humor, but with urgency. As the polar ice cap melts, we are becoming aware of its critical impact on all of the earth’s living creatures.

Illustrated with Mark Thurman’s detailed drawings and magnificent photographs from the authors’ own collections, this is a wintry treat to enjoy all year.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7–This conversational text presents the natural history and the lore of snow and the creatures that live in it. From Kovakmiut terms for specific types of snows and drifts to snowy paw prints, avalanches, glaciers, the Ice Age, and much more, the scientific facts stand cheek by jowl with folktales and fun facts. Readers are told how snow crystals form, and how Snowflake Bentley and others have spent lifetimes studying their highly individual shapes. Small, full-color photos and some attractive artwork are sprinkled throughout. Team this volume with Joan Sugarman's Snowflakes (Little, Brown, 1985), Terence Williams's The Secret Language of Snow (Pantheon, 1984), and Sandra Markle's Exploring Winter (Atheneum, 1984) for a seasonal treat. Kenneth George Libbrecht's superb The Snowflake (Voyageur, 2003), from the adult department, offers an awesome look at the sublime glory of snow crystals.–Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-5. This enthusiastic hodgepodge of information and stories presents readers with a wide range of historical, meteorological, and scientific facts about snow. Avalanches, blizzards, glaciers, snow birds, snow mammals, and weather forecasting are among the many subjects covered. Supplementing the factual text are folktales from Native American peoples and Russia that feature snow at the center of the story. Illustrating the informational sections are attractive color photographs; less impressive color drawings accompany the folktales. The fact sections would have been better supported with diagrams, maps, and, in some cases, more relevant photographs. The section on Snowflake Bentley, for example, should have included a photograph of snowflakes, preferably one by Bentley himself. The format and supporting illustrations are a bit lacking, but this will still find an audience among young browsers and teachers seeking supplementary materials for elementary science units. A glossary concludes. Ed Sullivan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Tundra Books (October 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887766706
• ISBN-13: 978-0887766701
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 0.5 x 10.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,789,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Coming - SOON, November 5, 2005

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Sweet Virginia "Sweet Virginia" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Snow Amazing: Cool Facts and Warm Tales (Hardcover)

For those of us who lucky enough (!) to cope with snow on a regular basis, this wonderful book provides tonic when we most need it.

Snow can suck! It hampers our movements. It ices our windshields. It's cold and wet.

But this warm book lets us into a secret. Snow is cool!

In "Snow Amazing" we learn incredible facts about snow.

But we also get to sit by the fire and hear wonderful stories about snow.

As winter aproaches - and I'm writing this from north of Toronto - my inclination is to dread the onset of winter and snow.

But this book inspires me to welcome snow and encourages me to learn even more about "that white stuff".