Super Snow Day
Michael Garland, Author and Illustrator
Dutton Children’s Books, Fiction, 2010
Suitable for Ages: 3-8
Themes: Snowy Day, Winter activities, Seek and Find
Opening/Synopsis: Tommy was about to eat his breakfast when he heard the TV news lady say, “The schools are closed! It’s a snow day!” Tommy looked into his cereal bowl and saw a note from his Aunt Jeanne. “Take a look out the window!/This is more than a flurry./You have time on your hands now,/And not one single worry.” Tommy hurries outside to shovel the walk before he plays in the snow. In his shovel he finds another message from Aunt Jeanne telling him to head towards town when he finishes. He happily straps on his snow shoes and makes his way towards town where the streets are filled with children playing and parents pulling kids on sleds. As he heads to the town square he finds people making gigantic snow sculptures and ice castle. Outside of town there is ice fishing, ice boat racing, sleigh rides, bobsled racing and many more surprises.
Why I like this book: Author and illustrator Michael Garland has written and illustrated a magical snow day book that teaches kids about many fun and unusual winter sports and the world of hibernating animals. His computer-generated illustrations are bold, colorful, and engaging. Super Snow Day is one of Garland’s popular Seek and Find books. Each illustration is filled with hundreds of hidden snow items. With a lot of snow this winter, Super Snow Day will have great kid appeal. Young children will find it a great snowy day story and enjoy looking at the eye-popping illustrations. Older children will be entertained with searching for all the winter sport symbols, song and book titles, animal tracks, foreign words for “snow,” and counting all the snowflakes on the cover and inside the book. Make sure you have a pad of paper and pencil, because this book is one big puzzle! Visit Michael Garland and all of his picture books at his website.
Resources: The book is a resource of fun activities for even the young at heart. But, enjoy the snow with your children/grandchildren and take them outside to search for animal tracks in the snow. Make snow angels. Go sledding, skiing or ice skating. Build a snow fort or snowman. And don’t forget about making snow ice cream. Here’s a recipe.
Every Friday, authors and KidLit bloggers post a favorite picture book. To see a complete listing of all the Perfect Picture Books with resources, please visit author Susanna Leonard Hill’s Perfect Picture Books.
What a magical book, Pat. Full of activities, a great read and such beautiful pictures to pour over. Michael Garland, sure knows how to capture a moment and also to have us spell-bound by his beautiful work. And, you provided “snow ice cream as well.” Oh my! I never heard of it. I wonder if I can sneak some man-made snow from the snow planet here, so I can have a go at making the recipe (to eat). Could do with something cool with a hot summers weekend ahead. What fun! Thank you for sharing.
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Diane, it’s snowing…it’s snowing today in Ohio. A winter wonderland – but cold. Perfect day to share Michael Garland’s Super Snow Day with the east coast. The book and illustrations are magical and will entertain kids for hours. You can make snow ice cream out of shaved ice from your icemaker. Has your summer weather in NZ been as turbulent as in Austraila? Glad you liked the book.
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Love the art work! So good for people to teach their children to work with and play with the weather instead of always complaining about it! People do that a lot in England…complain about the weather!
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Niamh, with a snowy winter day, it was the perfect book for the midwest to east coast. I love Garland’s illustrations and he was gracious enough to let me share a few in my review. The book is packed with fun winter activities. Thanks for sharing on twitter.
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The ice fishing spread has me hooked!
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Laura, I loved that illustration in the book — enlarged, it is eye-popping, as are all the other illustrations. Think Garland is a kid at heart when he illustrates.
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Isn’t that a hoot!?
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Amazing art work, and the expression on the boy’s face on the cover is priceless!
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Glad you liked the book Coleen. Yes, the cover really draws you into the book.
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This would be a great book to READ on a snow day, as it sounds like HOURS worth of fun!
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Joanna, it is a snowy day today. It will move to the east coast tonight. The book is children, but also the young at heart who love snow and the myriad of winte activites. Would have loved this book as a child! You would appreciate the woodland scences showing animals hibernating, or making tracks in the snow.
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Fun book, especially the pictures. My Mom used to make snow ice cream for us all the time. No sweetened condensed milk or anything fancy like in the DELICIOUS recipes listed. Ours was just snow, Nestle’s Quick, and eat it fast!
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Ha! Ha! Sounds like fun made with Nestle’s quick. We made it as kids. And, you do have to eat it fast. I’m glad you enjoyed the snow fun today! It’s snowing here.
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Here, too!
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Patricia – what a beautiful pick – and so apropos! I love Michael Garland’s art – have been following him for some time. His illustrations always have such an energy to them, like you are right in the picture. I am in awe of his talent. Thanks for sharing.
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Laura, I am pleased you’re a fan of his work too. There is a lot of energy in his illustrations. I’m sure he will appreciate your comments.
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Sounds like a blast. Will have to find it!
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Darshana, this book is just so much fun for kids. They will love the beautiful illustrations and looking for the hidden items throughout the book and covers.
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The idea of a snow day book in my opinion is nothing special. However, the art in the samples you have provided is blowing me away. It’s incredible and I think is the TRUE selling point for this book.
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Michael, you’d enjoy the illustrations — enlarged they are amazing. The other selling point is all of the items hidden in the illustrations. Thanks for stopping.
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Well there’s just everything to love about this book, Pat! I love Michael Garland’s work, I love puzzles and seek-and-finds, and a story that illuminates so many fun winter activities and hibernating animals is just wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
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And, we have a snowy day today — you may get tonight. This book will be a winner with kids. I know you love his work. This one is perfect for our PPB list. A great book to hand kids when they are stuck inside the house too. I just loved the illustrations!
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This sounds wonderful, Pat (goes to toss my Ice Fish story in the bin lol)
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Catherine, it is a wonderful winter story. And ice fishing is only one illustration of many. Hope you keep at your MS — would make a fun book.
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I’ve changed it a lot and submitted it, I think it might have to make do as a poem :0)
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Catherine, it’s such a great topic for a kids book. And, whether pros or poetry, I’m sure it will be good. Glad you didn’t pitch it! 🙂 And thank you for sharing my reiview on twitter. I need to get better at using it.
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What’s with the last picture??? Huh? Aye they CRAZY?? 😉
We had a snow day today (we got out of school early, I mean…) because it snowed in another town and it is headed our way! 😀
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I agree Erik. Those polar plunge people are CRAZY but it is a very common fundraiser activity for lots of Boston children’s charities. BRRR!
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Cathy, thank you for commenting on Erik’s comment! They are common fundraiser activities. Wouldn’t catch me trying it — but it made for a fun share!
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Erik, what Michael tried to accomplish was showing the wide variety of snow activities — the polar punge I couldn’t resist. No way I would do it, but it is popular worldwide. I think you and Joise would have great fun with this book — takes two to find all of the hidden objects. You’d love the illustrations! The snow has almost ended here. You’ll see it later today.
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Mr. Garland, I tip my hat to you once again. What a terrific book, and thank you to Pat for featuring it on PPBF!
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Cathy, I’m sure Garland will appreciate your comments. As you can tell I’m a fan of his stunning illustrations and great kid books. You should peek at his gallery — he’s a wonderful artist too. It’s on his website.
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I have always been fascinated by snow, probably because we don’t get it here :-)! And that is probably why Ive never heard of snow ice cream! Sounds fun!
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Amy, thank you for visiting. I’m glad you liked the book. Garland is an outstanding illustrator and write really fun books.
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Love this book!! Huge fan of Michael Garland’s work!! Couldn’t have been a more appropriate book review to read on this wintery Michigan day 😀 Thanks, Pat!
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Lori, I love his books too. Seemed like the perfect book today. We have a lot of snow in Ohio. Glad you enjoyed the review!
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Snowdays are VERY healing! Great pick!
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Yes, I bet a lot kids and teachers agree today. Glad you enjoyed Garland’s book!
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Haven’t yet – but I’ll be looking for it!
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Love snow days, and love this book! Good recipes, too. Thanks for the link. Now I know what to do next time we have a snow day.
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Carrie, I am so pleased you enjoyed Michael Garland’s fun snow day book. Very bold and entertaining. You’ll have to try snow ice cream!
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this sounds like a good one, especially with all the extras in it.
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Janet, thank you for commenting. Am glad you enjoyed Garland’s beautiful and entertaining book.
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This is the time of year when every child is crossing his or her fingers for that snow day announcement. What a perfect pick for this season.
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Kirsten, I’m glad you enjoyed Super Snow Day! So many things can be done with his book, even if it’s curling up and reading it in a warm house. Today turned out to be the perfect day to share it where I live as schools were closed for snow.
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What a cute book. And appropriate! We missed three days of school this week! I read “What Snowmen do at Night” to my son’s class last week. It was a big hit. I might have to find this one, too.
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Michelle, I’m so glad you liked Garland’s book. His books are keepers and so beautiful. This one is fun! Didn’t realize you have shared some of my recommendations! That’s nice!
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I had the MLK book to share today, but then I forgot to go! It’s been a crazy week with all those snowdays. I was busy catching up homeschool. She told me to bring it next week as they’re doing a lot with Black history month.
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The illustrations here are really enjoyable. I’m currently tutoring a Korean boy who can’t read too many English words but loves poring over pictures. I’ll try to find a copy of this from my library. Thanks for sharing this, Pat!
Also, I’m starting a blog button collection over at my website and would love to add yours (if you have one and wouldn’t mind, of course). If you’re keen, please let me know!
http://www.carryusoffbooks.com/blog.html
Thanks, and have a great weekend, Pat!
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Claudine, I hope you find a copy of Super Snow Day — I think your Korean student would enjoy it. The pictures will tell the story. And you can help him locate items hidden on the pages. The book is very interactive.
Sure, I’d like to be included. But, I embarassed to say I don’t know what a blog button is. So must not have one.:)
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What fabulous illustrations!! I love this book already! Thanks for sharing this one!
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I’m so glad you enjoyed Michael Garland’s book. It is a real winter treasure for kids.
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I find snow days extremely healing. They are a gift – as is this book.
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Hadn’t thought about it, but they are healing especially if you take in the quiet and read a good book. Am so happy you enjoyed Michael’s book!
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Oh Pat…I love this story…lots of snowy days coming this winter…what a perfect book for parents to read with their kids! One of my 12×12 drafts last year was a snow book…thanks for tweaking my memory…I’ll have to go and dust it off.:)
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Vivian, it the perfect book for parents to read to their kids during the winter. You’d love the illustrations. I’d dust off the MS.
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Sounds like a plan, Pat.:)
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This book looks like a fun snow day. Our neighborhood was disappointed we didn’t get one of those this week. That poor blue kid in the water. Brrrrr.
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Stacy, this is a great winter read. And one that will grow with kids over the years as they are able to search for hidden items on their own. Just a very fun snowy day book!
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