Snow Day

ISBN 0590460838 - If you're looking for a fun kids' book, this isn't it, despite the vaguely misleading cover. I think it deserves the 4 stars I've given it, however, because it is a good non-fiction book for young readers (marked for ages 5-8). A snowstorm has struck the town and, when residents wake up, they find their world has ground to a halt. There'll be no school, which the kids think is great, but there will also be no stores open, offices are closed, and even the airport is shut down. People shovel, plow, and use a variety of vehicles to remove the snow so that they can return to business as usual. They sand the roads (the same idea as salting the roads) and tend to branches on power lines. The story also discusses snow removal in the city, at the airport, on train tracks and dealing with ice on bodies of water. The title, and the cover illustration, do give the impression that this is one of those books - a fun story about one of those regrettably rare days when the world grants a winter wish to schoolchildren: a day off to play! That's just not the case, and for that seemingly intentional misleading impression, I take away a star. Really, the book is about snow removal and the various methods and vehicles that people use to deal with it, making the book educational - which is somewhat akin to making a kid do homework on the one and only snow day of his childhood. Still, it's a nice book, and author Betsy Maestro does a pretty good job of keeping it from being too boring. Illustrator Giulio Maestro's work compliments the text nicely, although he's way better with trucks than he is with people. The duo seems to have chosen a fairly rural setting for this snowstorm, which deals with snow in pretty much the same way as the city - the only real difference being the distance between houses. - AnnaLovesBooks

Unlike most picture books that fall into the "snow day" category, this one doesn't focus on the snow's effect on school children and/or their families. The Maestros' book takes a wider view as it considers the activities of all of the town residents after a heavy snowfall. Snow plows and other pieces of heavy equipment take center stage. The special needs of airports and harbors are depicted. A lot happens out there after the storm passes, and we catch glimpses of it here. It's not just a time to build snow forts and throw snowballs. This is nice approach to the subject that will serve the boys-and-trucks crowd as well as elementary school units on transportation.