Sunday, September 27, 2009

Nonfiction Monday -- Under the Snow

Under the Snow by Melissa Stewart. Illustrated by Constance R. Bergum. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree Publishers, 2009. Available now.

It's time for a new book about what animals do in the wintertime. The others are getting old and out-of-print. This one will do nicely.

The book opens with a huge winter scene, mostly white space with a snow covered village tucked in dead center. A few children playing in the snow on the right hand side leads us to turn the page to discover that "under the snow lies a hidden world."

Great illustrations of a mass of ladybugs, and over there a snake, tucked into a stone wall the children are passing.
Next page shows a vole tunneling under the snow, alive and active.

And so it goes -- combining hibernating animals with those who are active during the winter.

Spring comes at the end of this 32 page picture book -- repeating the first scene of children playing on the right hand side foreground with the village tucked in the middle of the double page spread, except this time it's a springtime view.

(added later) I just got a message from Melissa Stewart. She invites you to come over and visit her on her blog. She has a nice website, too, over here.

Surprise! All the Nonfiction Monday reviews are here at my blog today!
-wendie Old

6 comments:

laurasalas said...

This book looks beautiful, Wendie! I'll have to check it out.

I just read and loved Panda Kindergarten, which I think I read about here (though I'm not sure).

I'm in today with Emperor Qin's Terra Cotta Army at http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/175649.html.

And one of my books, Home on the Earth, is featured at Wild About Nature: http://wildaboutnaturewriters.blogspot.com/2009/09/nonfiction-monday-home-on-earth.html

Thanks for hosting!

Sarah N. said...

Thanks for hosting. We'll definitely have to check out Under the Snow. I've posted about Many Luscious Lollipops here: http://inneedofchocolate.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/non-fiction-monday-many-luscious-lollipops/

Wendie O said...

Laura, yes I reviewed the Panda book recently. it should be on this screen, or the previous one.

Melissa (if you read this blog), a library customer just checked your book out -- and asked me to track down more of them. And checked them out, too.

-wendie old

Loree Griffin Burns said...

Hi Wendy,

I've got a Nonfiction Monday post up at my blog:

http://lgburns.livejournal.com/152517.html

Loree Burns

Bri Meets Books said...

The illustrations in this are beautiful. Not surprised, Peachtree has wonderful books!

I just reviewed Sea Soup: Zooplankton.

http://bribookblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/non-fiction-monday-sea-soup-zooplankton.html

Thanks for hosting!

Pat Zietlow Miller said...

Nice review! I have a Q and A interview with Melissa Stewart on my blog at www.patzietlowmiller.com

Stop by by to check it out if you get the chance. It's a book that's worth a second look.