Snowballs

( 6 )

Overview

Pull on your mittens and head outside for a snowball day. Grab some snow and start rolling. With a few found objects—like buttons and fabric and seeds—and a little imagination, you can create a whole family out of snow. Children will love poring over Lois Ehlert's bold, funny illustrations and identifying the common (and not so common) objects she uses to decorate her snowy family.

Some children create a family out of snow. Includes labeled pictures of all the items ...

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More About This Book

Overview

Pull on your mittens and head outside for a snowball day. Grab some snow and start rolling. With a few found objects—like buttons and fabric and seeds—and a little imagination, you can create a whole family out of snow. Children will love poring over Lois Ehlert's bold, funny illustrations and identifying the common (and not so common) objects she uses to decorate her snowy family.

Some children create a family out of snow. Includes labeled pictures of all the items they use, as well as information about how snow is formed.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Only an artist as gifted as Ehlert (Nuts to You!) could take so well-worn a topic as building a snowman and make it as fresh as-well, new-fallen snow. Her faultless sense of design immediately engages the reader: tidy white circles dot the gray backgrounds of her collages; cut-paper birds show off their hand-painted wings; and an offscreen narrator exhibits a sackful of ``good stuff''-birdseed, peanuts, corn kernels, etc.-accumulated in anticipation of the ``perfect snowball day.'' Soon the narrator and invisible colleagues have constructed a whole family of snow people and their pets. Each member of the snow family receives a full spread, to be viewed vertically, and each is decorated with ``good stuff.'' Birds (and squirrels) can feast upon some of the adornments; and bright textiles (a Bolivian hat, a Guatemalan purse) imaginatively intermingle with stones, twigs and such prosaic items as a luggage tag and a claim check. Factual information about snow is included as well as a spread featuring photos of 13 snow creations. Even jacket space is not wasted-the flap has a recipe for popcorn balls, while the back cover features a selection of snowy newspaper forecasts. A joyful and inventive book just brimming with its own ``good stuff.'' Ages 3-8. (Oct.)
Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot
Making snowballs and snowmen seems so natural with all of those beautiful flakes piled high on the ground. Ehlert, with her distinctive collage artwork, creates a snow family using familiar objects from inside and outside the house. Good ideas, sure to spur further creativity, are imaginatively displayed in vertical form on two-page spreads.
Children's Literature
Making snowballs and snowmen seems so natural with all of those beautiful flakes piled high on the ground. Ehlert, with her distinctive collage artwork, creates a snow family using familiar objects from inside and outside the house. When the sun arrives, the family begins to melt away. Good ideas for decorating and creating a snow family are imaginatively displayed in vertical form on two-page spreads. 2001 (orig. 1995), Red Wagon/Harcourt, $6.95. Ages 6 mo. to 3. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2-Ehlert once again displays the innovative collage style that so vividly celebrated spring and summer in Growing Vegetable Soup 1990 and Planting a Rainbow 1988, and autumn in Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf 1991 and Nuts to You! 1993, all Harcourt. Here, she puts a creative twist on one of the favorite traditions of winter-building a snowman, or, in this case, a snow family, including pets. Children who believe snowmen must have charcoal eyes and carrot noses will be inspired by the unique adornments, for each creation here is decorated with the narrator's cache of ``good stuff in a sack.'' Mom's hair is a Guatemalan belt; boy's nose is a toy compass; baby's arms are plastic picnic forks; dog's spots are a collection of buttons. As in the previous books, bold, rhyming text describes the simple pleasures of the season. The contrasting sensations of the crisp iciness and dreary isolation of winter are effectively created by placing the colorfully decorated white figures against a textured gray background on double-page vertical spreads. The background glows bright orange as the sun appears. Ehlert concludes her book with some winter facts, photographs of snowmen, and a recipe for popcorn balls. Another spectacular effort.-Kathy Piehl, Mankato State University, MN
Susan Dove Lempke
A snow family is the heart of Ehlert's newest picture book, which shows, early on, a paper bag overflowing with materials "good stuff in a sack" suitable for decorating. snow sculptures. The snow creations are depicted lengthwise on the pages, beginning with a snow dad formed from circles of paper festooned with raisin eyes and a mouth of unpopped corn kernels. A snow mom with coffee bean eyes comes next, and so on. A variety of objects, from food to ethnic clothing, are used to make each snowman, and Ehlert's trademark cut-paper animals visit the snow critters. Children will love figuring out what each decorative item is, and Ehlert labels everything in a glorious double-page spread that is certain to give kids and their teachers lots of craft ideas. Ehlert loses her focus at the end, shifting to explanations of snow science and photographs of real snowmen, but less relevant pages can be skipped easily. A recipe for popcorn balls that can be turned into "snowmen" appears on the back flap as a nice bonus.
From the Publisher
star “Only an artist as gifted as Ehlert could take so well-worn a topic as building a snowman and make it as fresh as—well, new-fallen snow. . . . A joyful and inventive book.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
pointer “There is a generous spirit to this jolly, unassuming book. . . . The whole package is fun to look at, fun to read, and fun to share.”—Kirkus Reviews (pointer review)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780152000745
  • Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Publication date: 11/28/1995
  • Edition description: ABR
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 40
  • Sales rank: 280,169
  • Age range: 3 - 7 Years
  • Lexile: 300L (what's this?)
  • Product dimensions: 10.20 (w) x 11.29 (h) x 0.34 (d)

Meet the Author

LOIS EHLERT has created many award-winning picture books, including, most recently, Waiting for Wings. She lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 6 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(4)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(1)

2 Star

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Sort by: Showing all of 6 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 25, 2012

    Great for preschoolers!

    This is another great book by Lois Ehlert. My preschool class loved the simple text and especially loved the collage style illustrations and photos. Some of the illustrations are done vertically so it was fun for them to turn the book too.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 9, 2010

    Snowballs------for any Age

    In truth, Snowballs by Lois Ehlert---is a very simple and creative treatment of how to build your very own personal snowman...
    It inspires one to gather what ye may....and go out and do it.
    Elegant and timeless and a perfect gift.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 25, 2008

    one of my kids' favorites

    Our copy is falling apart we have looked at it so many times. Now we are purchasing it as a gift. My daughter picked it when asked what are some favorites we should share with others. She is 10 and still loves it!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 9, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 20, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 1, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

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