No Two Snowflakes - Hardcover

Fitch, Sheree

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1551432064 ISBN 13: 9781551432069

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers, 2001

Synopsis

Blue Spruce Reading Program nominee
Pearson Canada Readers’ Choice Award nominee
Ruth Schwartz Award nominee 2002
Amelia Frances Howard Gibbon nominee 2002
CCBC Our Choice 2002
"What is snow?" Araba, a Ghanaian child, asks her Canadian pen pal. The response unfolds as a letter in poetry, rich in lyricism and in what author Sheree Fitch would call "lipslipperiness." Janet Wilson's glowing pastel illustrations revel in all the sensory experiences, the color, associated with the cold white stuff. Through the asking and the telling, two children reach halfway around the world and touch one another.

Renowned Canadian poet and performer, Sheree Fitch has won many awards for her thirteen books of poetry for children, including the Mr. Christie's Book Award for There Were Monkeys in My Kitchen and the Vicky Metcalf Award for a Body of Work Inspiring to Children. A Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Canada, Sheree wrote a collection of poems, If You Could Wear My Sneakers, to highlight the rights of children as declared by the United Nations. In recent years, she has been a visiting author in Belize, Mexico, Bhutan, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Janet Wilson is a multi-award-winning illustrator whose work has graced many children's books. Her notable titles include Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt and In Flander's Fields. Sarah May and the New Red Dress (Orca, 1998) and Me and Mr. Mah (Orca, 1999) were Canadian Library Assocation Honour Books.

About this title

About the Authors

Sheree Fitch has won almost every major award for Canadian children's literature including the 1992 Mr. Christie Award for Best Canadian Children's Book for There Were Monkeys in my Kitchen and the Vicky Metcalf Award for a Body of Work Inspirational to Canadian Children. Sheree has published over 25 titles for children and adults, and has read her work to audiences worldwide. She lives in Nova Scotia, Canada. For more information, visit www.shereefitch.com.

Janet Wilson is an award-winning artist and a published author, holding over 50 publishing copyrights in the children's literature field. Her awards include Best Illustrated Book in the United States in 2004 for Jasper's Day, Canadian Information Book of the Year for her artwork in In Flanders Fields, and she is the first non-native artist to be awarded the Native Reading Week Award for her illustrations in Solomon's Tree. Janet is a career artist known for her fine art commissioned portraits and still life paintings. For more information, visit www.janetwilson.ca.

 

Reviews

Gr 1-4-One Christmas afternoon, Lou in Canada writes to Araba, his pen pal in an unnamed tropical country, to explain to her what snow is. In free verse, he describes it by moonlight, in the late day, and in the muddy spring. His catalog of enjoyments includes tobogganing; packing snowballs; and making forts, igloos, and snow angels-all activities that most northerners will recognize, but few tropical dwellers may picture without explanation. While the poetic language evokes many aspects of winter, the rich imagery, multiple references to other experiences, and a surfeit of pretentious melded words ("snow in slow feathershapes"; "snapcrackle music"; "bluesky day") stretch credulity that the seven- or eight-year-old narrator pictured would produce this letter. However, as a sensory evocation of snow, the book reminds readers to use everything they notice when describing something-touch, taste, appearance, sound, and comparisons-a valuable poetry or writing lesson. Impressionistic pastel illustrations vibrantly depict the snow scenes and two show Araba making a "sand angel" to parallel Lou's creation. Three activities are included.

Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

That's all I know, Araba…
I have tried to tell you the taste and smell of snow
its sound and touch
but words are not enough.

To know snow
you must hold it in your hand
feel it melt to pearls of water
until it is gone…

Edition details

• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1551432064
• ISBN 13: 9781551432069
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Wilson Janet
• Number of pages: 32