All You Need for a Snowman

One small snowflake fluttering down--That's all you need for a snowman. Or is it? In these pages, an exuberant crew is summoned to create a snowman of heroic proportions. Starting with the very first flake, Alice Schertle's clever and energetic rhyming text details the steps these little sculptors take to create a chilly chum.

2 to 4 years. Winner of the Highly Commended 2003 Charlotte Zolotow Award, All You Need for a Snowman is heartwarming picture book about friendship and what you need to build a snowman. In it a group of children collaboratively build a giant snowman with all the classic snowman elements. Finally the snowman is finished but then book ends with a snowman friend. An enjoyable poem executes this plot and is simple enough for toddlers and preschoolers. Also every time the characters add to the snowman, Schertle ends with the refrain "that's all you need for a snowman EXCEPT..." This repetition will inspire young listeners to repeat the refrain with the reader and engage them to guess what element is still missing. Barabara Lavallee provides show more the watercolor illustrations for All You Need for a Snowman and paints the characters' faces with her inclusive multicultural technique. She paints the children's faces to have half of their faces with a darker skin complexion, and the other half to be of a lighter complexion. This way they each represent all ethnicities. However, the technique does not come off as preachy but instead contributes to the overall themes of friendship and inclusivity. This picture book is highly recommended to public library collections. It makes a great read aloud storytime book. And patrons will consider it an early childhood winter classic. show less

"All you need for a snowman is a snowflake, EXCEPT" and so the story begins. This is a really cute book about how to build a snowman. In the process of building this snowman, it takes on character and the children involved play and create and there's a sense of camraderie with each other and nature.

The illustrations are done in such a way that even a non-reader could look at the book and be able to tell the story. Good read for children if they've ever, or even never, made a snowman! There's really no deep meaning or lesson to be learned from the book, but as an entertainment it holds up.

We start with one snowflake, which is ALL you need for a snowman, except... more snowflakes. And a snowball. And more snowballs, and clothes and all.

Love the artwork, love the bouncy rhymes, this is a great book, nice and short for the preschool set. I'm going to pass it off to my local pre-k, I think they'll get a lot of use out of it - and I'm *definitely* buying "All You Need For a Beach" to go with it later this year!

Only one snowflake, that's what you need for a snowman. But also...
Kids will enjoy filling in what might be missing in order to make a proper snowman.

Critique:
Genre: I think this story could be considered realistic fiction because the plot revolves around building a snowman. It follows what typical people use to build snowmen. Similarly, there are people who are building the snowman. It is slightly not realistic because the people are tiny in the pictures and are climbing up the snowman because it is so big. However, most kids would feel like the story is realistic because they could build a snowman similar to how it is built in the story.
Character: The character of the "snowman" is developed throughout this story. Although it is the main focus of the story, it is not a character that talks. It is dynamic because it physically changes throughout the story, starting out as show more snowflakes, and then turning into a snowman. The character of the snowman helps move along the plot because the focus is to determine everything you need to build a great snowman. show less

Very cute, Basic instructions on how to make a snowman, what you need lots of snow, clothes, carrots, buttons. The snowmen have awesome hats and fanny packs.