Snowflake Bentley

Snowflake Bentley

by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, Mary Azarian (Illustrator)
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Perfectbound, 32 pages
Price: $8.99

Wilson Bentley loves snow. He loves to look at snowflakes under a microscope. Each one looks different, beautiful, unique. He longs to capture the beauty of them, but he can't draw fast enough before they melt. His parents, sympathetic to his passion, spend all their savings to buy him a camera. Now Wilson Bentley can show the whole world what he's seen under his microscope...

This Caldecott medalist is a succint biography of "Snowflake" Bentley's life. Mary Azarian, who lives in Bentley's home state of Vermont, illustrated with rich woodcuts tinted with watercolor. The main story is supplemented with in-depth facts about Bentley's life in the sidebar.

Surprisingly inspiring, the focus of the book is on how Bentley's passion led to a new scientific discovery. And yet, eschewing any fame or fortune, he remained all his life a simple farmer in Vermont. Though Wilson Bentley spent his life photographing snowflakes, he never made a profit from it. Instead he achieved something that, the book emphasizes, was vastly more important to him. He captured the natural beauty he loved for everyone to see. And in the process, turned a few thousand Vermont snowflakes into the most famous snowflakes in the world.

Review by Lauren Shearer
Lauren Shearer writes words for fun and profit. She also makes films, but everyone knows you can't make a profit doing that. Her other hobby is consistently volunteering way too much of her time. You can read more of her reviews here.

Review by Lauren Shearer
Lauren Shearer writes words for fun and profit. She also makes films, but everyone knows you can't make a profit doing that. Her other hobby is consistently volunteering way too much of her time. You can read more of her reviews here.
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