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Summary: Wilson Bentley, The Snowflake Man
Review: "Snowflake Bentley" tells the inspiring tale of Wilson Bentley, a young boy who loved snow so much he grew up to be a man who devoted his life to photographing the tiny ice crystals we call snowflakes. Of course friends and neighbors in Vermont thought "Snowflake" Bentley was a tad strange. But he had a scientist's vision and perseverance, and a passion to show people "these exquisite bits of nature" that no one would ever see if he did not photograph them for posterity. Bentley's story is told by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and is graced by Mary Azarian's hand-colored woodcuts, which fit both the times and the tale. This is the story of someone who worked for neither money nor fame, but who dedicated their life's effort to something they knew was important, no matter what others might think.In the back of this book there is a photograph of Wilson Bentley, as well as some of his photographs of snowflakes. While Martin tells the story of Snowflake Bentley beneath the pictures, sidebars provide biographical details. I found this to be an excellent way of providing additional information without forcing them into the narrative. My only suggestion would have been not to keep using the same snowflake patters on the top and bottom of the sidebars since one of the results of Bentley's photographs was the idea that no two snowflakes are alike. Ironic, huh? Final Note: Bentley's "Snow Crystals" is still in print for those interested in seeing more of his actual photographs.
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Summary: Snowflake Bentley
Review: ...I chose Snowflake Bentley for my Caldecott Presentation in Childrens Literature. This book gives children a rich history lesson in a personal and meaningful way. It helps children to become better acquainted with a important person and learn the reasoning behind what he was interested in. The book also gives little facts on the sides of every page which are interesting to look over. I recommend this book for children and parents to read to their children.
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Summary: Snowflake Bentley
Review: ...I chose Snowflake Bentley for my Caldecott Presentation in Childrens Literature. This book gives children a rich history lesson in a personal and meaningful way. It helps children to become better acquainted with a important person and learn the reasoning behind what he was interested in. The book also gives little facts on the sides of every page which are interesting to look over. I recommend this book for children and parents to read to their children.
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Summary: Review of Snowflake Bentley
Review: As winter is in full effect and snowfalls are becoming morefamiliar to the area, I couldn't help but pick up Jacqueline BriggsMartin's Snowflake Bentley. As educational as it is delightful,Martin's colorful picture book gives the historical account of Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley (1865-1931), an American farmer who dedicated most of his life to microphotography. This form of photography allowed Bentley to take pictures of snow crystals and study the snowflakes more closely. The pictures in this story compliment this educational narrative as they also add expressive and colorful images. A drawing of Wilson Bentley is dominates the book as the central image. The story shows Wilson's growth from a child to an adult in his study of nature, whether he is walking in the snow, examining insects in a field of flowers, or studying the shapes of snowflakes under a camera in his home. This visual art classifies Briggs' book as a picture book. According to Rhedin in Kummerling-Beibauer Bettina's article, "Metalinguistic Awareness and the Child's Developing Concept of Irony: The Relationship between Pictures and Text in Ironic Picture Books", there is two types of picture books. The first is a book where the "visual art dominates as an independent mode of expression but is enhanced by actual or implied narrative structure." I wouldn't say that the visual art in Snowflake Bentley is dominant or independent nor would I say that it is the second type of picture book where "the verbal text dominates as an independent work of art where illustrations...show a distinctive freedom of style and thought." (162) Rather, I would say that the text and illustrations are dependent on one another. The illustrations do indeed show a distinctive of freedom of style and thought but these thoughts are parallel with the plot. The pictures of the snow are pleasant and comforting, as the story is also pleasant and comforting. She uses pictures of William, Wilson's family, the fallen snow, but also of other seasons where Wilson is studying other aspects of nature. The falling snowflakes throughout the text continue the idea of snowfall, whether on a double full-page spread or set on borders outside the text. The colors throughout the story are vibrant and are visual images of the words in the text. The pictures are able to depict fully what Briggs wants the readers to understand by creating an image that brings the story line to life. Readers, both children and adults, can enjoy this story line as well as the history behind Wilson Bentley. I picked up Snowflake Bentley on a cold winter's day but the pictures were warming and the story taught me to examine snowflakes for more than just a way to get out of class.
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Summary: Snow is like chocolate. There's never enough.
Review: Blessed be the non-fiction picture books of the world that deal with obscure and unknown heroes with regularity, for they shall be the award winners in the end. I suspect that Jacqueline Briggs Martin's Caldecott Award winning book, "Snowflake Bentley" is perhaps how most people today have come to learn about Wilson Bentley and his lifelong habits and dreams. In my own personal experience, I never ran across Bentley's name (to the best of my knowledge) until I read this sweet story. To my mind, it is deserving of its praise.
Author Jacqueline Briggs Martin is not above beginning her tale with a particularly evocative and intriguing sentence like, "In the days when farmers worked with ox and sled and cut the dark with lantern light, there lived a boy who loved snow more than anything else in the world". Meet Wilson Bentley. Your typical farm boy with atypical aspirations. Willie loved catching snowflakes with the hopes of preserving them for others to see. Unfortunately, he couldn't find a way of keeping track of them. Drawing them didn't work because the snow crystals would melt before he finished sketching them out. Then, at the age of seventeen he saw a camera with its own microscope for sale. Winning the award for "Best Parents Ever", Willie's ma and pa used their savings to buy their teenaged son the camera he always wanted. As the book says it, "cost as much as his father's herd of ten cows". After more than a year of attempts and failures, Willie finally managed to photograph a snowflake successfully. Time passed and Willie perfected his technique. He didn't limit himself to winter beauty, however. Mr. Bentley also photographed spider webs and grasshoppers covered in dew, amongst other things. Eventually, the scientific community began to sit up and take notice and at the age of sixty-six a book was made of Willie's best photographs. After his death a museum was created in his honor. The last page of the book shows a photo of the actual Snowflake Bentley and some of his snowflake photographs. Looking at them, it doesn't seem surprising at all that someone would want to dedicate their life to preserving such amazing works of nature. It seems inspired.
When I first read the book, I wished that it had contained more photographs and less illustrations. This is not to degrade the work of the talented Mary Azarian. I just wanted to see more examples of the great man's work. The three at the back of the book whet my appetite but did not satiate it. Looking at the book a second time, however, I see that this failing to illustrate it would have been a mistake. Azarian's woodcuts fit the tone of the book beautifully. Presented alongside hand tinted watercolors, they display the harsh winter months of Vermont as well as the family relationships in Bentley's life. Azarian has also managed to convey action and energy in her photographs. Bentley, when he first successfully photographs a snowflake, emerges from his winter hut leaping ecstatically on one leg. Kids throw snowballs at one another amidst the falling flakes and horses trot along the roads easily. And all this is merely background to Bentley's accomplishments.
The story itself is expertly presented as well. Author Martin has carefully whittled down Bentley's life so that we only see those parts of it that best apply to his tale. There isn't a drop of excess or needless information here. Everything is presented factually with scant references into what our hero "thought" or "dreamed". To my delight, Martin even presents her sources on Bentley's life. If you happen to have a 1923 National Geographic sitting in your basement (and trust me, some people do), you might want to look up Bentley's article there. Finally, Martin includes factoids on the sides of her pages, keeping them distinct from the illustrations but close enough that you can glance over to them for additional information.
Kids in school always have to pick someone to write a biography on. Usually these are great grand historical figures that cut their way into American textbooks everywhere. But if your child wants to write about someone a little less known (though, in his way, I would argue that he is no less important) that dealt with both science and art all at once, Snowflake Bentley is your man. The great farmer-scientist finally has a book singing his praise.
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Summary: Review of Snowflake Bentley
Review: I really enjoyed reading the story of Snowflake Bentley. Jacqueline Briggs Martin does an excellent job of telling the accomplishments of Willian Bentley in a way that is exciting and entertaining to children. Snow brings much excitment to all children, they love playing in it and sledding so to read about a man who dedicated his life to snowflakes is fascinating. This story shows how hard Wilson Bentley worked to show the world what he loved. This story gives a great example to children, the kids see that with hard work you can accomplish whatever you want. Snowflake Bentley is not like any biography I have read before, it gives justice to William Bentley's accomplishments but written in a story like form that will interests the children. The facts on the side of each page are a great additive of information as well.
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Summary: Wonderful book & idea -- throw a Snowflake Bentley party!
Review: My son (7) thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was his first biography and he was very interested to learn about the farmer-scientist who loved snow. We were lucky enough to attend a Family Day at the National Museum of American History (Wash DC) where the author read the story and told the gathered families about writing, editing and publishing a book. The museum staff then had snowflake & microscope activities for children to enjoy. My son was so inspired and excited by the story and the day's events that he suggested, when reading the book in mid January, that we throw a "Snowflake Bentley" party. We picked Feb 9th, Wilson Bentley's birthday, and invited all the neighborhood kids over. A couple of parents read the book and then kids either cut out or painted snowflakes. We had a copy of Wilson Bentley's book available so they could see all the different snowflakes he photographed. We ate cake decorated in a snowflake pattern. It was a great way to share this wonderful book. Many of the kids requested to borrow the book afterwards.
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Summary: Wonderful book & idea -- throw a Snowflake Bentley party!
Review: My son (7) thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was his first biography and he was very interested to learn about the farmer-scientist who loved snow. We were lucky enough to attend a Family Day at the National Museum of American History (Wash DC) where the author read the story and told the gathered families about writing, editing and publishing a book. The museum staff then had snowflake & microscope activities for children to enjoy. My son was so inspired and excited by the story and the day's events that he suggested, when reading the book in mid January, that we throw a "Snowflake Bentley" party. We picked Feb 9th, Wilson Bentley's birthday, and invited all the neighborhood kids over. A couple of parents read the book and then kids either cut out or painted snowflakes. We had a copy of Wilson Bentley's book available so they could see all the different snowflakes he photographed. We ate cake decorated in a snowflake pattern. It was a great way to share this wonderful book. Many of the kids requested to borrow the book afterwards.
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Summary: How do they figure the Caldecott Award?
Review: Of all the children's books I have borrowed/read, this has to be one of the best bedtime stories. I was yawning by page two, and I wasn't even tired. My daughter was looking around the room & sighing while I read it. Do the Caldecott judges keep children in mind when they award these books? While I can appreciate the idea of living your dream, no matter the cost, the "tale" itsself was drawn out, boring and choppy. The story could have been told & illustrated with *much* more whimsy, for such an interesting fellow/life. I can imagine what a great book this could have been.
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Summary: The Inspiring Snowflake Bentley
Review: Snowflake Bentley is an exceptional biography about a young man, Wilson Bentley, whose aspiration was capturing nature's beauty on film. His greatest fascination was in studying the intricacies of snowflakes. The snowflakes, however, were the most challenging to draw or photograph because they melted so quickly. In order to support his dream, his mother bought him a special camera with a microscope lens inside that allowed him to photograph his fascinations. After many failed attempts, he finally found a way to capture a snowflake's beauty on film, and he also discovered that no two snowflakes were alike. At first, people who knew of Wilson Bentley, thought he was strange for photographing snowflakes. In the end, they were able to see the true beauty that he saw in photographing these ice crystals. He shared his discoveries and pictures with others, published his own book, and gave speeches to faraway scholars about the science and beauty of a snowflake. He felt that his pictures and findings were his gift to the world, and indeed they were.
As I read this book to my third graders, not only was I able to introduce an example of wonderful biography, but I was also able to integrate this book into our math unit on Symmetry. The best part of all, was observing the looks on my students' faces as they became enthralled with the beauty of the illustrations, and the captivating story. My students especially enjoyed many of the sidebar notes that author, Jacqueline Briggs Martin, used to explain Wilson Bentley's life and the science of the snowflake. The author also uses a rich choice of words that flow almost like a song, which draws you in from the very beginning. She uses profound imagery that takes the reader back in time to the actual place. To add to this amazing tale, this book is also accented with beautiful hand-colored woodcuts made from Caldecott Award winner, Mary Azarian, which also help to take the reader back in time.
We were all able to relate to Bentley because as we were reading, we realized he made many mistakes, just as each of us do every day. It was also a pleasure to read a quote that Bentley wrote himself following the story, along with a picture of him and three actual photographs from his collection. This book inspired all of us to find a gift within ourselves that we can share with the world just like Wilson Bentley, and to never be afraid to make mistakes along the way.
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