Snowflake Bentley by Jaquiline Briggs Martin

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper; Reprint edition (December 28, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0547248296
• Themes: Perseverance, Nature, Love 

Last week I read Snowflake Bentley, the biography of Willie Bentley to a number of my classes, and then had the students make snowflakes. Some of the teachers think that my reading of the story brought on the snow. Tuesday no one really minded the two-hour delay, but the story may have worked a little too well for this week - 19 inches in two days! Mr. Bentley would have been in snowflake heaven. :)
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Willie Bentley loved snow from the time he was very young. While other children or adults were playing in the snow or keeping warm by the fire, Willie was out collecting snowflakes. He tried many various methods over the years, but it wasn't until his 17th birthday when his parents purchased him a camera with a microscope, that he was finally was able to begin to achieve his dream. Sharing the wonders and beauty of snowflakes with the world.
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The story is told in two parts. The main part (which is good for reading aloud), and then the extra asides with information that is best read by an individual reader. The artwork is simply beautiful. In fact, the book was the Caldecott Medal winner in 1999. All in all this is a wonderful way to introduce the idea of biographies to students, as well as possibly induce a couple snow days. :)