[.ca] Snowballs (ISBN 0152000747)

A delightful and beautiful view of snowmen and winter:
A visually outstanding picture book showing how all natural paraphenalia (buttons, ribbons, toy wheels, seeds, etc.) are used in the art of making a snow dad, mom, boy, girl, baby, cat and dog. Children become aware of the art of collage and the creativity involved in nature things. The book is complete with facts of winter, snow and then actual photographs of various snowmen made by children. As always, a Lois Ehlert masterpiece.

gherring:
My 4 year old son loves this book. We first learned of the book in his preschool. He came home one day and talked about this book all afternoon. The next day we checked it out at the library and liked it a lot. The book is very creative and colorful which captures a young child's attention. There are so many different items that we could identify and learn. My son wants me to read this book many times throughout the day and frequently asks when it is going to snow. This is a great book by Lois Ehlert.

Snowball o' fun:
You walk into your first encounter with "Snowballs" with the vague sense that this is going to be yet another winter picture book containing figures made out of cut paper. And though you are well aware of Ezra Jack Keats's "The Snowy Day", you decide to give Lois Ehlert's book a go anyway. You're hoping you'll end up pleasantly surprised by what you may find. And you're in luck. You are. In this tale of wintertime bird feeding, the author first poses a hypothetical question: "Do you think birds know when it's going to snow?". As if in answer, we view a pair of cardinals, one male and one female, as they devour some seeds. With the fall of a new snow, it's time to make some snow creatures. In a surprising two page spread we see a brown paper sack and plastic bags full of stuff. The author says that this is "good stuff" saved for this very occasion. The rest of the book then displays snowmen, women, children, pets, etc. made out of everything from strawberries to orange plastic fish. Almost every snow person has something in their make up that is delicious to the wild birds, and occasionally a brave birdy will fly into the picture to nibble on a sunflower seed necklace or munch on a popcorn laden body. At the back of the book are actual size photographs against a white background displaying objects that were featured in the snowmen's bodies earlier. Kids reading the book will enjoy trying to find the page that presented the Guatemalan purse or the Thai appliqué heart. Finally, the reader can find out more about snow itself. Two pages full of snowman photos (all goofy in their own different ways) surround a section entitled, "What makes it snow?". And for those of you that are lucky enough to be reading a hardcover edition of this tale, a recipe for popcorn balls appears on the back book flap. Admittedly, when you get right down to it, this book is just a paper cut out book after all. But Ehlert has taken the liberty of combining your normal run-of-the-mill paper images with life sized photographs of certain objects. If you look on the cover, you'll see that the bird sitting on the snowman's head is all paper while the piece of popcorn it holds in its beak is a photograph. The result is fairly seamless. We can assume that some Photoshopping has been done here since a couple of these photographed items occasionally cast shadows on their snowpeople. This is a fairly well put together little book. It's difficult to combine stories where fun hunt and peck tales are combined with scientific facts. I'm almost tempted to categorize this book as non-fiction for all its interesting information. Even a quick glance at the back cover consists of thirteen newspaper accounts of snowy weather. In a way, this book is like an educational "Where's Waldo?". Kids reading it will probably have more fun trying to find the objects listed in the back of the book than they will reading about water droplets and the process of evaporation. Just the same, any book that sneaks a little science into the average child's diet is a-okay by me. You may not find much in the way of plot in this item, but there's enough originality and fun packed in "Snowballs" to keep the doldrums away.

Creative Fun:
I'm a speech therapist with a prekindergarten at risk program. After reading this book with the children we made our own "snowballs" book. I've never seen 3 and 4 year olds maintain their attention to an activity for so long. We made our own snowmen with three large white circles, put them on the floor and the children could choose any items from our classroonm to make any kind of snowmen they could think of. We then photographed them with their snowmen and put the photos into a book. They were unbelievably creative. Since the activity did not require cutting and glueing it was easy for the children to manipulate and change things as their snowmen "came to life". Some of them used ideas from the book and "modified" a little. The language they expressed while creating was unbelievable! This book is such an excellent resource and motivation for parents in using those "junk" items around the house to help children be creative, and to encourage a natural relaxed way to enhance language development. The book is very engaging for young children. The language is short and simple and the pictures bright and interesting. I liked it so much I ordered one for my niece.

A wonderful children's picture book.:
The masterful use of vivid colors and an interesting theme in Snowballs will surely draw any child's attention. The following everyday items: coffee beans, bottle caps, foil candy wrappers, and corn are all used to colorfully illustrate the components of a more realistic snow family. The picture book will inspire your children to go outside and make a snow person, instead of plopping down in front of the old TV.