snowballs

Annie and Snowball and the Teacup Club (Annie and Snowball Ready-to-Read)
$3.99
Annie loves teacups. She loves their pretty shapes. She loves their painted flowers. She loves their dainty little saucers. Her cousinand best friend, Henry, doesn't love teacups. Henry isn't interested in dainty things. Henry's dog, Mudge, weighs almost two hundred pounds, which is definitely not dainty!Can Henry help Annie find friends who love teacups as much as she does?

Snowball Earth: The Story of a Maverick Scientist and His Theory of the Global Catastrophe That Spawned Life As We Know It
$13.95
As other reviewers have noted, Walker does a great job in this book of describing the personalities and science surrounding the Snowball Earth theory. She finds great anecdotes and uses them to provide a better picture of the cast of characters. Some of the funnier stories include the expert in magnetics trying to see whether his bacteria will drink beer (the U.S. bacteria died from overdose); the "snow job" attack on snowball earth; and the absolute pettiness and egos of some of the scientists involved. Readers who haven't been involved with academia or the scientific process will never view it so benignly again.

Walker's explanation of the science was good, but would have been better with the aid of diagrams or pictures. A picture is worth 1,000 words, and prose can only do so much to convey the shape of rocks or what is in a picture. I found myself frequently having to google certain terms or locations to find good pictures. Hopefully a revised edition will include a few photos.

WHAM-O SnowBall Blaster
$33.99
Finally the best summer time game is adapted for winter time fun. The all new Snowball Blaster brings water fights into the winter time, making and launching your snowballs for you. No one else stands a chance!

Snowballs
$7.00
Children's books seem like they are a dime a dozen. I paid no attention to children's books in the past, but with my two little girls, I notice them more than before, and one thing I have quickly discovered is that, in many instances, there is very little to distinguish one from the other. This is why I am ever so grateful when I discover a book that has something unique to offer. And Snowballs is certainly one such book; offering illustrations and dialogue that sets it apart from other children's books.

Many things about this book make it worthwhile and one of the things I like is the creative dialogue. There aren't a large number of words, no. But I like the way the author starts out talking about birds and how they are often very scarce when snow starts to fall. This may not seem like a big deal, but it shows that this author wanted to make the book a little more creative than the usual children's book.

The words in this book are kept to a minimum, like they are in most children's books, but they are still effective and they state just enough to hold the attention of most youngsters. However, the best aspect of this book isn't the words- it's the drawings. What makes the illustrations so different from other children's books isn't necessarily the colorfulness of the illustrations, although the colors are memorable. What makes the pictures stand out in a crowd is the fact that they combine real pictures with drawings. For example, in the opening pages when the book is talking about birds, it is depicting pieces of popcorn, peanuts, bird seed, etc., in actual photos- not just drawings. These are superimposed on top of drawings of the snow family. Even the snow family shows actual items, like scarves, bows, leaves, twigs, and other things, giving the pictures a very realistic appearance.

Overall, Snowballs is a very good children's book about snowfall and family. We won't be seeing any of the white, fluffy flakes falling from the sky in my neck of the woods (Gulf Coast). But we will be enjoying books like Snowballs- books that enthrall children with their well- illustrated pages and their emphasis on family.