Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. Published (1998). 32 unnumbered pages. 830 L AD.  R.L.4.4 Level K-3.  This wonderfully illustrated biography of Wilson Bentley is a great introduction to his life and accomplishments.

Booklist starred (Vol. 95, No. 3 (October 1, 1998))

Ages 5-8. From the time he was a little boy, Wilson Bentley loved snow. Yet snow was frustrating to him. He could pick flowers for his mother or net butterflies, but he couldn't hold on to snowflakes. First, Bentley tried drawing snow crystals, but they would melt too quickly. Then, as a teenager in the 1870s, he read about a camera with a microscope. His family were Vermont farming folk, but they scraped together the money to buy him the camera. From then on, there was no stopping Bentley, who was nicknamed Snowflake. He spent winters photographing the intricate flakes. At first no one cared ("Snow in Vermont is as common as dirt"); but Bentley found fame as a nature photographer, and even today his photo book of snowflakes is considered a primary source. Martin has chosen her subject well; Bentley's determined life will have innate inspiration for children. Just as important, all parts of the book work together beautifully. The text is crisp and engaging, using word imagery to good advantage: "[his new camera] was taller than a newborn calf and cost as much as father's herd of ten cows." Azarian's woodcuts are strong and sure, just like Bentley himself, and also, like him, show a love of nuance and detail. The book's design allows for snowflake-touched sidebars that offer more specific details about camera technique or Bentley's experiments with snow. There will be so many uses for this book--not the least of which is simply handing it to children and letting their imaginations soar like Bentley's


Snowflake Bentley gives a unique opportunity to share a non-fiction book as a read-a-loud that still has a great story to tell.  Students become interested in how and why he desired to record something like snowflakes.  After we have finished the story, I have the students log on to a web site:  http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com/   The students have lots of fun trying to design original snowflakes that are very intricate and of course unique.

Posted by Margo Irving

The Little Red Pen by Janet Stevens

The Little Red Pen written by Janet Stevens. (Published 2011). 48 pgs. L 300. RL 2. Int Lvl k-3. This picture book tells the funny, pun-filled story of how many school supplies team up to correct all the ungraded papers left on a teacher's desk at night.

Kirkus Reviews (March 15, 2011)

Obviously inspired by "The Little Red Hen," this goes beyond the foundation tale's basic moral about work ethic to explore problem solving, teamwork and doing one's best. Nighttime at school brings the Little Red Pen out of the drawer to correct papers, usually aided by other common school supplies. But not this time. Too afraid of being broken, worn out, dull, lost or, worst of all, put in the "Pit of No Return" (aka trash), they hide in the drawer despite the Little Red Pen's insistence that the world will end if the papers do not get corrected. But even with her drive she cannot do it all herself-her efforts send her to the Pit. It takes the ingenuity and cooperation of every desk supply to accomplish her rescue and to get all the papers graded, thereby saving the world. The authors work in lots of clever wordplay that will appeal to adult readers, as will the spicy character of Chincheta, the Mexican pushpin. Stevens' delightfully expressive desk supplies were created with paint, ink and plenty of real school supplies. Without a doubt, she has captured their true personalities: the buck-toothed stapler, bespectacled scissors and rather empty-headed eraser. Teachers will certainly find themselves wishing for their own arsenal of supplies to help them with their grading, and students may take a second glance at that innocuous-looking red pen on the teacher's desk. (Picture book. 5-8)

Don't let the idea of "just a picture book" keep you from reading this hilarious, creative book to your older students. Beyond the entertaining story itself, this read aloud is a gold mine for teaching all sorts of figurative language, poetic elements, dialogue, theme, connections, cause/effect, and problem/solution to any class. It is a mentor text that every teacher should have to make learning fun. After reading it to my class, my students created a whole bulletin board of personification inspired by The Little Red Pen.

Posted by Liz Stafford

Sam & Dave Dig A Hole by Mac Barnett

Sam & Dave Dig A Hole by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen. Published (2014) 40 unnumbered pages. L.310 R.L. 1.9 Level K-3. Looking for something spectacular to read to your students? This story demands the reader's complete attention, but it pays off in the end.

Kirkus Reviews starred (August 1, 2014)

When Sam and Dave dig a hole, readers get "something spectacular." The boys, on the other hand, do not. Their quest to find the spectacular brings them painfully and humorously close to buried jewels as they spade their way into the ground, accompanied by an intrepid canine companion. Readers occupy a superior position as cross-section illustrations reveal those jewels buried just out of the shovels' reach. Each time they near one, the increasingly grubby boys maddeningly change course. On they dig, tunneling in different directions, and each effort reveals (to readers) yet larger jewels evading them. Exhausted, they fall asleep, but the dog digs after a bone it senses below. In an unexpected turn, the ground gives way to nothingness, and the trio falls through empty space "until they landed in the soft dirt." At first glance, it seems they've ended up where they began: A small tree stands on the recto, and a house with a porch is on the verso, as before. But careful readers will notice that the tree here bears pears, while the tree at the story's start had apples. Other differing details (a weathervane duck instead of a chicken; a blue flower instead of a red one; a blue cat collar instead of a red) suggest that they've unwittingly fallen into another dimension. Poor Sam and Dave. Lucky readers. (Picture book. 4-8)

You'll spend more time discussing this book than you will actually reading it. Then your students will demand that you read it again.  When I read this to my fifth graders, I started by asking them to take notice of the cover and wonder why Sam and Dave would want to dig a hole. After each page, I just asked the kids to share what they noticed.  At the end of the story, the students enjoyed explaining what they thought happened at the end of the book.

Posted by Kellie Hale