Mark CassinoReviews

An informative book about the process of snow and what it is.

This book was informational, but I am worried it would not hold the attention of all students since it is so informational (I could totally be wrong). The book was not a narrative, but the information given is easy to follow and there are images to support the text. Something that I liked about the book was that it actually has photos of enlarged snowflakes which is really cool (not literally) to see. Snowflakes are very pleasing to look at. I would use this with students as a read aloud, if we were learning about snow or maybe even if we were learning about water. One other cool thing about this book is at the back of it there is a page that explains how to catch a snowflake.

A lot of information and pictures of snowflakes. Good book if you're really interested.
Grades K-2

How do snow crystals form? What shapes can they take? Are no two snow crystals alike? These questions and more are answered in this visually stunning exploration of the science of snow.

I really enjoyed this book. It does a good job going through the process of a snowflake forming with great visuals. There are drawings of the phases, pictures of real snowflakes and eye catching fonts. On each page is a largely printed sentence that gives the main idea, then underneath is a few more sentences with detail. At the end of the book it also has instructions how to catch and look closely at a snowflake. To use it in a classroom I would have my students draw the process of a snowflake. Then the final step have them spend time drawing a detailed snowflake with geometric shapes.

The book was good overall. The pictures were very good and the information was nice as well. I think that the information was a little more based for younger children.½

Genre: Informational

Summary: In an engaging and informative book, readers can learn all about snow crystals- how they are formed, the different types, and how they combine to create snowflakes.

Review: I love this book! The pictures are beautiful and descriptive. The words are are clear and understandable, yet not basic. It covers a lot of detail, and can serve as an excellent resource in the classroom.

This book is a science book that teaches kids about snow, the crystals formed that make individual snowflakes, and shows how each and every flake has a different design. This book takes students through pictures that portray the cycle of snow, and other aspects that inform the reader about snowflakes in an educational and engaging manner.

The Story of Snow introduces the concept of snow and how it works. I really liked how this book showed real life snow crystals along with illustrations. I thought this book was very interesting to read and is perfect to read during the winter time. I think students would be very interested in how snow is formed. This book also gives snow-crystal catching instructions in the back of the book.

A great informational text about how snow crystals/flakes are formed. This will be supplemental when teaching the class about the weather. The illustrations also help to picture especially since we live in a state with rare occasions of snow.

This is a book that explains how snow is formed from a speck to a snow crystal that falls. It also explains how the crystals can be in a lot of different shapes. The ending gives an explanation on how to catch your own snow crystals.

The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder by Mark Cassino is a non-fiction picture book for children which teaches all about snow.

It's a simple read that begins with clouds, and takes you through the life cycle of a snowflake in an easy to understand format.

It contains the most beautiful and fascinating snowflake pictures I've seen. Children will learn about all the different shapes of snowflakes and the dendrites they form.

"Snow crystals are like us-we're each different, but we have a lot in common."

This is a great book for anyone who want to learn about snow.

5*****

Want to know all about snow? This book is just for you. This book explains how snow forms, and each stage. This is good book to use when learning about weather.

Genre: Non Fiction

Review: "The Story of Snow" is a good science book that I would use with a class of kinder to second grade students. The book focuses on explaining to the reader the how snow crystals form and the shape that they take. I would use this book when teaching a lesson on climate and temperature. I could also tie the information found in this book to science lessons because it discusses shapes. This book is rich in visuals which will help engage students.½

Description:
This book tells the story of how a snowflake is formed, beginning with the temperature and moisture levels at the cloud level and concluding with how multiple snow crystals form together to make a snow flake. The book includes a flowchart that shows how a snow crystal begins as a spec that develops as more and more water vapor sticks to the spec. The book also includes many up close pictures of snow flakes and concludes with a section on how to catch and view your own snowflakes.

Personal reaction:
This book provides a simple yet informative view into how a snowflake is created. The book is fully of quality pictures of up-close snowflakes and uses diagrams to make the development of the snowflake more comprehensible for the young reader.
I also like how there is a "how-to" at the end of the book as this invites the reader to take learning into their own hands and to make observations on a naturally occurring phenomenon.

Keywords/science topics:
snow, water vapor, gas, liquid, frozen (ice), shapes, weather

A couple of uses:
- During a weather unit, read this book to the class and then discuss where in the world it is most likely to snow and why.
- Use this book to introduce a discussion on the three states of water.
- After introducing this book to the class and discussing the geometrical patterns of snow crystals, use geometric blocks to create and mimic the hexagonal pattern of snowflakes.½

Informative book about snow and the winter season.

I generally loved this book for a number of reasons. First of all, the writing in this story is clear and descriptive. Also, the author defines new terms as they are introduced to the reader. For example, on the seventh page Cassino writes the following: "...water vapor (water in the form of a gas)..." I also appreciated how the pictures were labeled and the pictures and illustrations enhanced the meaning of the text. For example, pages 10 and 11, a timeline of the progression of a snowflake is illustrated for the reader while labeling each step next to the stage that is occurring. Overall, this book was informative and interesting. The only criticism I could think of is the text could be considered a bit lengthy for the age it is addressing. In conclusion, the main idea of the text is to inform readers on the process of how a snowflake is made.

Summary: A book that explains how snow crystals and flakes grow in the clouds and how temperature and other factors can affect what comes down to the crystal form that hits the earth. It also explains that no two snow crystals are ever alike and can take a variety of different shapes. The book explains each step of the formation and the details of how snow crystals are formed.

Personal Reflection: This is a beautiful book that communicates to the readers a sense of wonder and engages the reader wanting to continue reading more. This book shows detailed illustrations of snow crystals and captures a beautiful story of snow.

Curriculum Connection: A wonderful book to use in a K-3rd-grade science class when learning about different weathers, in particular, winter and its snow. This book explains how snow is formed and the details you need to know about snow. After this book is read, children can go outside with magnifying glasses to go investigate various snowflakes.

This book examples how snow is formed: tiny snow crystals that stick together. It explains how these crystals start forming, the different shapes and structures, and what happens when they fall. This book also includes an activity that involves catching your own snow crystals. This books has wonderful images of magnified snow crystals.
This book is a good example of an informational book because it is full of information about snow. The book sets out to explain the basics of snow and how the smaller parts, snow crystals, form. This informational book provides thorough explanations that are still understandable for elementary students and vivid pictures to demonstrate what is being discussed.
Media: watercolor and ink
Age Appropriateness: Late Primary- Intermediate

in-depth discussion of how snow is formed, the shapes it takes, and the different way it is formed.
4 books

Snow seems to captivate people of all ages, and this book would draw students in to read and learn. Key vocabulary include water vapor, particle, crystal, and bacteria. This book could support NGSS standard #4 analyzing and interpreting data. Students could look at each picture of snowflakes in the book and go outside and draw pictures of snowflakes they see. Once they collect the pictures and drawings they could compare and contract the snowflakes asking questions like, how are they similar? How are the flakes different?

This is an excellent resource when going through a unit about weather, more specifically snow and the process in which it is created. It also included a lot of visuals of real snowflakes caught on film and blown up in size. Before reading this book I had no idea that there were different shaped snowflakes; some are stars, others plates, and some are even columns. This book is full of information.

4.5 stars. Stunning. Lots of stuff I didn't know, and I'm a fan of science, and grew up in NW Wisconsin.

This informational book is not necessarily for young kids but can be adapted during a read aloud. It explains how snow begins - in the form of a speck. It goes on to explain that the speck eventually creates a snow crystal with itself in the middle and it continues growing and forming as it falls. The book provides real pictures of snow crystals in their various forms - stars, plates, and columns - and describes how every snow crystal has six arms or six sides, however, a twin is what a snow crystal with twelve arms is called. The authors describe how snow crystals are rarely perfect and can have bumps; they go on to explain how many snow crystals stuck together form a snowflake. At the end it describes why snow crystals melt when they come in contact with anything here, that no two snow crystals are alike, and the book is wrapped up by a little information on how to catch and look at your very own snow crystal.

This informational book is about the "life" of snow. It contains very detailed, beautiful pictures that really help the reader understand how snow is formed and all the different ways they can look.
I would definitely recommend this book to children of elementary age and even middle school age. It was very well written in a way young people can understand and really learn cool things about snow that one most likely does not know. It also has pictures that are really helpful and beautiful and eye-catching. It also gave an idea for a project at the end that would be really neat for a child to do to see, first hand, what snow flakes look like and how intricate they really are.