Inside: A beautiful book by Cynthia Rylant that you don’t want to miss. Plus two writing and two art projects.
Hello! I have the most beautiful winter book to share with you today.
Title: Snow
Written: Cynthia Rylant
Illustrations: Lauren Stringer
Publishing: Harcourt Books, 2008
Ages: 5 to 12
Themes: Snow, Imagery, Realistic Fiction
Opening: “The best snow is the snow that comes softly in the night, like a shy friend afraid to knock, so she thinks she’ll just wait in the yard until you see her. This is the snow that brings you peace.”
Brief Synopsis: This is a beautiful look at a day in the life of a young child and her elderly grandmother. It explores different kinds of snowy days and how they make you feel. It also briefly touches upon the fragility and impermanence of life: “And the snow, while it is here, reminds us of this: that nothing lasts forever except memories.”
Why I Like This Book: The illustrations are soft and dreamy. The text is typical of Cynthia Rylant, with a lovely rolling feel to it. This book just makes you feel peaceful.
Resources:
1.A free pdf made by me with some snow writing activities.
The first is a snow poem your kids you could write.
Use the book as an inspiration and brainstorm all sorts of lovely poetic words about snow, such as “softly falling”, “dry and powdery”, “white, swirling” .
Let the kids choose their favourites to add to the template to create their own snow poem.
I used a primer font so that they can trace the words.
2. The next writing activity is a little snow booklet your kids can make.
Begin by brainstorming all the places snow can fall on, such as tree tops, heads, cars, roads, dogs, etc.
Then have your students choose their favourites to write in the blanks. The booklet ends with “Snow on me!”.
Last step is to illustrate a beautiful picture to go with each page.
DOWNLOAD: SNOW WRITING PDF
3. Learn How to Paint Snow:
If you’re interested in using liquid watercolours (which are gorgeous) then you’ll love this project by The Artful Parent, where she shows you how to teach your kids to paint snow.
4. And finally, here’s a sweet snowy art project featuring a little squirrel that you can find at Deep Space Sparkle.
Thank you for reading!
LOve those paintings!
WOW!!! That art is FANTASTIC! (might have to steal it) ;)I hadn't heard of that book before, but the language sounds beautiful!JenRunde's Room
That Snow book looks beautiful. Definitely going to have to look into adding that to my collection.♥ Dragonflies in First ♥
Barbara, that polar bear painting has me speechless. What talent! I'd be happy to hang that on any wall in my house… I too love the lyrical, gentleness of this book. Great choice!
Isn't Cynthia Rylant amazing? I didn't realize there was a book activity guide. Thanks for the the link!DeeFirst Impressions
This book sounds beautiful, Barbara! I love Cynthia Rylant, and this looks like a lovely quiet, dreamy book, just like those peaceful snowfalls. I love your suggested activity. And that polar bear – WOW! A first-grader? That is truly impressive! Thanks so much for sharing this worthy addition to our list!
The opening was enough to hook me. Thanks for bringing this book to my attention.
Somehow, I missed commenting on your book, or it appeared added after I checked out the list. I love Cynthia Rylant's book \”Snow,\” it has such a pristine nature about it. And it is so lyrical. Very nice choice for cold weather. And, I can't believe a child drew the polar bear! WOW — a budding artist.
Cynthia Rylant is awesomely lovely!!!!!!!!! I'll have to get this book. And I cannot believe that a first grader did the polar bears. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *sigh* I can't even draw a stick figure. *envious* :-)*waving*
Barbara, this is a great choice-my teachers are looking for \”snow\” picture books this time of year-I have a pretty sizeable Cynthia Rylant collection, but I didn't recognize this book-we opened the library on 2007 and must have just missed this one in our opening collection. Will have to add it for sure-looks great! Thanks so much!!
This book sounds wonderful — and like so many others, I am absolutely astonished at the polar bear art piece! wow.Thank you, Barbara!
Thanks for all your sweet comments, everyone! They're very much appreciated 🙂
Just wanted to let you know that I had my kids do the painting with one red object and a tree and snow after our unit on The Snowy Day and Ezra Jack Keats. It was awesome. I love doing art with them about literature. Thanks!First in Maine