Snow Amazing: Cool Facts and Warm Tales

Marie St. Onge-Davidson is president of the Essential English Centre in
Ottawa.

Readers of all ages will find Snow Amazing fascinating. Topics covered
include Canadian snow history, snow ecology and biology, forecasting
snow, snowstorms, snow’s impact on people and animals, and the melting
polar ice caps. One point the authors have neglected to cover is winter
as experienced in different geographic parts of Canada. A delightful
aspect of the book is the short story or folk tale about winter included
at the end of each chapter: these provide a fictional relief to the
wealth of factual information on snow. The book concludes with a helpful
glossary and a useful index.

The book’s cover features a photograph of a snowy owl, which, though
beautiful, would have been more appropriate for a book about birds than
one about snow. Thurman’s watercolour-and-coloured-pencil
illustrations are enjoyable, but not as vibrant as one would expect to
see in a children’s book. The photographs (all from the authors’
personal collections) and artwork are not exceptional. Nonetheless, Snow
Amazing is an informative and enjoyable book that would make a fine
addition to a school, public, or personal library. Recommended.