Poetry Friday: The Snowflake Sisters

Two snowflake siblings ("One was large and one was small, / One wore fleece and one wore lace") embark on big adventures in J. Patrick Lewis's rhyming picture book. Blown by "a mighty night wind," they accompany Santa on his toy deliveries, watch the ball drop at Times Square, almost get squished on 42nd Street, and finally land in Central Park.

"Along the sidewalk drifts and peaks,
They had a ball for weeks and weeks!"

In The Snowflake Sisters, Lewis tells a companionable story, well-suited for a preschool 4s class and young readers, although the Christmas references may limit its audience somewhat. I enjoyed the cleverness of the poet's concept—the passage of winter as related by two observant ice crystals—and especially liked Lisa Desimini's paper-collage illustrations. They're a joy: she uses a wide variety of colors and textures, fragments of subway maps and New York Times headlines, and clips from the New York Post and New York magazine. Creative and inspiring, her pictures may prompt young artists to scissor up the local newspaper and make some wintry scenes themselves.

When it started snowing yesterday, our friend the kindergarten teacher and her class ran outside with black construction paper and magnifying glasses so that they could examine the snowflakes. Our friend recommends putting the paper in the freezer if you get a chance beforehand, so that the flakes last longer; the black background makes it easier to see them. In Lewis's book, the sisters stay around until "the splendor-ender, Spring," but winter makes a promise that it will bring them back again next year.

Our snow has melted this morning, but I hope the snowflake sisters pass by here again. We will be waiting. The paper is in the freezer!

P.S., If you want a subway map of your own, visit New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Kelly, at Big A little a, rounds up all the Poetry Friday posts today.

Comments

[jules]

That sounds good. Thanks for the review!

[Jone]

What a fun book. I will look for it. My Poetry Friday is up at http://maclibrary.libblogs.net/?p=61. I am not sure who is doing round up but since I am able to leave a comment here(school blocks many comment areas) I will. Happy reading.

[Susan]

Jone, I'm not able to do a roundup today, but if I found out that someone else is doing it, I'll pass along your post.

[Elaine Magliaro]

Susan,

Kelly's doing the roundup today at Big A little a. Have a great weekend!

One book of poetry written by J. Patrick Lewis that my second graders really liked was A HIPPOPOTAMUSN'T. It contains mostly rhymed, humorous poems about animals. It also includes a haiku and a concrete poem about the flamingo. Have you read the book?

[Susan]

Thanks, Elaine. I'll have to look for that Lewis title. Thanks. I'd not heard of it before.

[Anne]

Ohmigosh, where have I been? The new look is fabulous! Very professional, very contemporary and cool. Am I hip enough to be here? I feel like I should be wearing black and sipping a soy latte. Seriously, it looks great. Congrats.

[Susan]

Anne, that's funny. Thanks! Typepad offered new designs one day and I changed mine the next. Yay.

[Nancy]

Susan, I've been meaning to say that I like the new look too.

The book sounds great -- I'm so happy it snowed today at last!

[Susan]

Thank you, Nancy. Yes, what a relief. I worry about global warming, and the lack of snow was making me so uneasy. I need to see that Al Gore movie.

[Anne]

Yes, see the Al Gore movie by all means. It's terrific. I kept shaking my head saying, "Why wasn't he like this in 2000? He'd be president!"

Then again, W. was apparently channeling Gore last night during the SOTU speech urging energy conservation, etc. I'm so glad I write about kids books; if I had a political blog, my head would explode.