Summary
From the time he was a small boy, Wilson Bentley saw snowflakes as small miracles. And he determined that one day his camera would capture for others the wonder of the tiny crystal. Bentley's enthusiasm for photographing snowflakes was often misunderstood in his time, but his patience and determination revealed two important truths: no two snowflakes are alike; and each one is startlingly beautiful. His story is gracefully told and brought to life in lovely woodcuts, giving children insight into a soul who had not only a scientist's vision and perseverance but a clear passion for the wonders of nature.
Reviews -
Gr 1-4-- The patient, thorough scientific observations of W. A. Bentley are celebrated in this picture-book biography. Determined to develop a method of recording his observations of snowflakes, Bentley ultimately succeeded in photographing the elusive ice crystals. Woodcut illustrations reveal the hard work and delight Bentley experienced in his lifelong love affair with wintry weather.
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Compiled by Kathy Piehl
A warm period look at a cold subject — snow — and one self-made scientist, Wilson A. Bentley, affectionately known as Snowflake. Bentley made an appearance in Johanna Hurwitz's recent novel Faraway Summer (rev. 7/98); Martin's book more completely gives a portrait of the man who discovered, among other things, the fact that no two snowflakes are alike (something that the book design sometimes contradicts). The book exhibits a beautiful blend of Azarian's splendid woodcuts, a lyrical text, and factual sidebars. Bentley's dedication to his research is clearly evident, and the ridicule to which he was sometimes subjected is appropriately down-played for a young audience. The illustrations, tinted with watercolors, depict the people, homes, meadows, and woods of turn-of-the-century Vermont countryside in accurate detail. Sources for the factual material are credited, and a final page features photographs of Bentley at work and three of his actual snowflake slides.
~~~~~~~~By Elizabeth S. Watson
And so...
The bright, colorful pictures captures a time and place that many suburban and urban children have never experienced. The language is simple enough for most beginning readers, and there are sidebars that bring the vocabulary to a higher level and give additional facts about W.A. Bentley not included in the story passages. This book is an excellent introduction to biographies for beginning readers, a jump off point for writing projects, and a discussion of how pictures enhance the story for Caldecott Award winners.
This book could be used in the library to introduce Caldecott Awards to any age group of students, also could be used to introduce biography, or narrative nonfiction. I have used this book in the classroom during studies of weather (snowflakes), symmetry, and to do a compare contrast lesson where after reading students were given copies of the snowflakes to use as headings on a T-chart of Alike/Different phrases, then use those phrases to write a narrative paragraph.
References
Martin, Jacaueline Briggs. Snowflake Bentley. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1998
Summary retrieved from Syndetic Solutions, Inc, Richardson Public Library Online Catalog, June 15, 2011.
Piehl, Kathy. School Library Journal, Aug2006, Vol. 52 Issue 8, p42-42, 1/9p
Watson, Elizabeth S.. Horn Book Magazine, Sep/Oct98, Vol. 74 Issue 5, p622-622, 1/2p
Photograph retrieved from http://hip.cor.gov/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=131B005O63M84.81261&profile=rpl&uri=full%3D3100001%7E%21210631%7E%210&ri=2&&aspect=subtab35&menu=search&ri=2&view=SUMMARY&aspect=subtab35&menu=search&source=~!horizon&enhancedcontentdata=true%0A%09%09#focus
Picture Books - A Bad Case of Stripes
Summary - Camilla Cream loves lima beans, but she never eats them. Why? Because the other kids in her school don''t like them. And Camilla Cream is very, very worried about what other people think of her. In fact, she''s so worried that she''s about to break out inÂ… a bad case of stripes!
Reviews-
Gr 1-5-- Worried that no one will like her if she doesn't wear the right clothes or admits her fondness for lima beans, Camilla breaks into Technicolor stripes on the first day of school, unable to deal with the stress of trying to please everyone. Her mysterious ailment worsens to the point that Camilla is no longer recognizable, and her plight is captured in delightfully over-the-top, rainbow-hued paintings. A gem of a book to share whenever students need a reminder that it's OK to be themselves.
~~~~~~~~By Lisa G. Kropp
Ages 6-8. Camilla, who loves lima beans but won't eat them because it's not cool, finds that deferring to others isn't all it's cracked up to be. In fact, her desire to please and be popular causes her some spectacular problems: she suddenly breaks out in stripes, then stars, then turns "purple polka-dotty" at the behest of a delighted classmate. Her weird mutations, which stymie doctors and send the media into a frenzy, become more and more extreme until she finally blends into the walls of her room-her lips the red-blanketed mattress on her bed, her eyes the paintings on the wall. Will she never be herself again? Shannon's over-the-top art is sensational, an ingenious combination of the concrete and the fantastic that delivers more than enough punch to make up for the somewhat heavy hand behind the story, and as usual, his wonderfully stereotypic characters are unforgettable. The pictures are probably enough to attract young browsers (Camilla in brilliant stripped glory graces the jacket), and the book's irony and wealth of detail may even interest readers in higher grades. Try this for leading into a discussion on being different. -Stephanie Zvirin
I love the pictures in this book. The words might be on a higher level than most kinder or 1st graders can handle, but the illustrations and setup will keep students interested even into the upper elementary grades. Lots of color, and the different mutations that Camilla goes through, the blending into her background, will be the start of lots of discussion when children read this book.
Uses for this book
A Bad Case of Stripes could be used in the library for discussions about illustrators, in a author study for David Shannon, to compare and contrast illustraitons of his works. It could also be used as a read aloud about how all students are different, and we all read different things but if we share what we read, we learn even more.
References
Shannon, David. A Bad Case of Strips. New York : Blue Sky Press, 1998.
Summary retrieved from Syndetic Solutions, Inc, Richardson Public Library Online Catalog, June 15, 2011.
Kropp, Lisa G.. School Library Journal, Jul2004, Vol. 50 Issue 7, p44-44, 1/9p
Zvirin, Stephanie. Booklist, 01/01/98 - 01/15/98 Combined Issue, Vol. 94 Issue 9/10, p825, 1/8p
Photo retrieved from http://hip.cor.gov/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1K13003UQ1140.80683&profile=rpl&uri=link=3100007~!62350~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=subtab35&menu=search&ri=1&source=~!horizon&term=A+bad+case+of+stripes+%2F&index=PALLTI#focus
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