Snowflake Bentley

Dear reader, this is the time of year to check out the 1999 Caldecott Medal book Snowflake Bentley (c 1998), not only for Mary Azarian's award winning woodcuts "handtinted with watercolors" but also for the intriguing history lesson / biography by Jacqueline Briggs Martin of the man who gave us the first close-ups of a snowflake.  Find out about Wilson Bentley's passion for snow and perseverance to discover a way to photograph snowflakes.

Here's a portion of the publisher's book review:
"Often misunderstood in his time, Wilson Bentley took pictures that even today reveal two important truths about snowflakes: first, that no two are alike, and second, that each one is startlingly beautiful."

And while the publishers recommend this particular picture book to ages 4-8, the history lesson is presented in such a beautiful way that you really should have your eldest children read it to their younger siblings.  Then, for those older siblings, check out Snow Crystals and/or Snowflakes in Photographs both by W. A. Bentley himself.

All ages will especially like looking through the original photographs of MANY individual snowflakes.  Afterwards, feel free to make your own snowflakes, as we did, using Lauren Stringer's tutorial (in correlation to her previously posted book, Snow).

Happy snow day!