(NOTE: I was given a copy of this book but all opinions are mine.)
Every state in the U.S. has had at least one day with an all-time maximum temperature of 100 degrees or above this summer. Utah (where I live) broke its all-time record highs. Other states have similar record-breaking temperatures. In fact, 2,300 cities have shattered their high temperature records. Man oh man!
I know that snow will not be in the forecast for a LONG time. So, reading a book about it is a great way to take your mind off these horribly high temperatures. And the book Just SNOW Already! by Howard McWilliam is the perfect book for times like this!
This book is about a little boy that is desperately waiting for it to snow.
The little boy looked out the window to see what was happening. It was cold. But no snow.
The milk and sugar at breakfast made the little boy think of snow.
When he told his sister it was going to snow, she didn’t care. (Silly girl!)
He brushed his teeth, washed his face, and got dressed. He was READY.
He rushed to look out the window. Still no snow. Rats!
He asked his mom to make it snow. (Of course she couldn’t.) She told him he’d just have to wait. But everybody knows that waiting is sooooo hard. In fact it’s downright boring.
(The picture below shows what was happening on his street.)
He thought of all the things he could do in the snow — building a snowman, sledding, making snow angels.
He looked out the window again. Still nothing.
He kept thinking about snow. He kept looking out the window. Nothing.
Then, he had a horrible thought. What if it never snowed again? Arrgh! That would be catastrophic!
He’d have to make mud men instead of snowmen. He’d have to sled on grass and make leaf angels. How awful!
He sulked. And sulked.
He ate a snack.
Life was so dismal.
Then, his mother asked if he had looked outside lately. The little boy told her it was no use. He just knew it wasn’t going to snow.
She suggested that the little boy take one more look.
Huzzah! Snow!
This children’s picture book is deliciously funny!
Every time that the little boy looks outside to see if it’s snowing, he only looks at the sky. He focuses so much on it that he completely misses all of the hilarious things that are happening on the street.
The first time he looks outside, the scene on the street is pretty normal. Cars drive by. People walk down the sidewalk. A girl rollerblades by. A man gets ready to paint his house.
Each succeeding street view gets increasingly funny. A bird steals a letter from the mail lady. Escaped monkeys cavort up trees, on rooftops, and on vans. Funny clowns build a human pyramid on the firetruck’s ladder. Men struggle to move a sofa into a home. (They succeed because the clowns help them.) Firemen attempt to rescue a cat stuck in a tree while water spews out of their hose.
The little boy is totally oblivious to all of this hullaballoo going on around him.
When it finally starts snowing, he says that nothin is as fun as snow. However, the reader knows that his day would have been lots more interesting if he had paid attention to what was going on around him.
We had a great time looking at the pictures in this book. There is so much detail in the street scenes. My grandkids loved seeing how the people’s activities evolved into funnier and funnier situations.
We spent LOTS of time looking at the pictures.
And I think you and your grandkids will, too.
We really enjoyed this book.
And I think you and your grandkids will, too.
Howard McWilliam is both author and illustrator of this book and he does a superb job doing both. He’s got a great imagination and great artistic skills. (I think it would be so fun to meet him!) Kuddos to him for a job well done.
You can get a copy of Just SNOW Already! on Amazon for $19. It would be money well spent.
