This book is about a little boy who was fascinated with snowflakes. Everyone around him thought it was so silly and time wasting to spend the time he spent studying the shapes of snowflakes. While other children were outside playing, he was inside studying about snowflakes; while other children were asking for new bats for baseball, he was asking for a new camera for his snowflakes. The boy’s fascination followed him throughout life. He was determined to have everyone see the beauty and differences among snowflakes like him. Eventually, he ended up selling his photographs to universities and valued citizens.
I enjoyed this particular biography because it was well created and thought about. It targeted a large audience. It was interesting and filled with facts although, it was colorful and had an easy storyline to follow. Out to the side of the colorful pictures and stories their were fascinating facts. This was an enjoyable biography for young children.
In the classroom, we could make our own snowflakes demonstrating that no snowflake is exactly the same, as the boy always said.
In the classroom, we could experiment with how fast a snowflake would last. This was the initial problem for the boy when he first starting observing.

Snowflake Bentley
by Jacqueline Briggs Martin Illustrated by Mary Azarian
Review by Katelyn Carter
I choose this book for it’s unique illustrations. Mary Azarian used woodcuts to create them. This book also won the gold medal The Caldecott Medal. I think children in elementary school would get the most enjoyment from this nonfiction story. The book tells about the like of William Bentley. When William was a young boy all he wanted to do was observe the snow and would even go out in snowstorms to collect snowflakes. No matter how cold it was outside he was determined to collect snowflakes and draw them so that everyone could enjoy their beauty. Bentley would spend everyday of winter trying to catch the perfect snowflake and draw it before it melted. His many observations allowed him to discover the formation of the uniqueness of snowflakes. He spent photographed the snowflakes, flowers, raindrops, and blades of grass. He loved snowflakes the most. William Bentley became a well-known snowflake expert earning him the title “Snowflake Man” or “Snowflake Bentley”. The book could be used for several lessons such as determination, persistence, trial and error, observations, and a biography. It could also be used while talking about winter and snowflakes.

Snowflake Bentley is a wonderful children’s book. This book shows in its text and pictures that hard work definitely pays off. This book focuses on observation. Throughout this book it shows that Willie Bentley spent his life observing and forming hypotheses about nature and the world around him. Willie Bentley specifically focuses on observing snowflakes and taking note of their individual and unique beauty.
I think that this book is appropriate for grade levels first through fifth. I think this because the text and pictures do a nice job of getting the information across in a hassle free manner. Children of all ages can enjoy this book and learn about the importance of the science process skill observation. I feel like this would be a good book to have in my classroom because it is a classic and children of all ages can benefit from it.

There was a little boy named Willie who loved the snow so much that he wanted to capture the snowflakes and share it with others. Of course, the snowflakes would melt so he decided to take pictures of the snowflakes. He grew up taking pictures of snowflakes and even wrote a book of snowflakes. He died continuing his journey of snowflakes.

I liked the pictures. I did not like that there was a column on the side of several pages of the story. It required more reading and it read the same thing as the story.

I will have the children learn about snowflakes. They will get to draw their own snowflakes. We will also cut out snowflakes from construction paper and hang across the classroom wall.

Jacqueline Briggs Martin succeeds in telling a beautiful story about a nineteenth century man who loves snow. Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley spent his entire life trying to capture the most perfect snowflake despite the financial costs and disparaging remarks he received from outsiders. This book shows that we can (and should) follow our dreams.

The book won the Caldecott Medal for Mary Azarian's wonderful woodcuts hand-colored with bright watercolors. These woodcuts add to the rustic feeling of the book. Snowflake Bentley was a common man with a wonderful dream. We can aspire to do great things like he did, too!

In terms of the structure of the book, there are usually two columns on a page, one large center column where Briggs Martin narrates the story of Snowflake Bentley, and one smaller side column which provides specific biographical data about Snowflake Bentley that aren't mentioned in the narrative. I really like the story book quality of this non-fiction book. I think that it would appeal to children who are interested in science but do not want a textbook-style explanation. I also highly recommend it to readers who would like to read a success story about a man who followed his dreams. ( )