Snowballs: A Winter and Holiday Book for Kids

Lois Ehlert has created a great winter book for children. Good story and art and the kids have a great time searching for the items that were used to create the snow family.

This is an excellent book for reading aloud, especially to a group of toddlers! It's light and easy to hold. The text is large and clear. There is a nice rhythm to the simple and concise sentences. The colorful collage illustrations are almost all double-page vertical, easy to see from a distance, and consist of objects children will be anxious to point out and identify. At the end of this simple story about building a snowman there is a section that pictures and identifies the items used in the collages: buttons, fabrics, fruits, buttons, etc. It's perfect for a game of: "where can you find this [bell] in the story?" "How many of these [seeds] can you find?", and perfect as a springboard for a snowman craft using items from your own sack of 'good stuff'. There is also an explanation of snow with photographs of real snowmen, and directions for making popcorn balls. This book is fun to read and look at, well worth reading over and over.

My 4 year old son loves this book. We first learned of the book in his preschool. He came home one day and talked about this book all afternoon. The next day we checked it out at the library and liked it a lot. The book is very creative and colorful which captures a young child's attention. There are so many different items that we could identify and learn. My son wants me to read this book many times throughout the day and frequently asks when it is going to snow. This is a great book by Lois Ehlert.

A visually outstanding picture book showing how all natural paraphenalia (buttons, ribbons, toy wheels, seeds, etc.) are used in the art of making a snow dad, mom, boy, girl, baby, cat and dog. Children become aware of the art of collage and the creativity involved in nature things. The book is complete with facts of winter, snow and then actual photographs of various snowmen made by children. As always, a Lois Ehlert masterpiece.