Before a snowflake melts on your tongue, it makes an epic journey.  This is the story of that journey, step by step, from a single snowflake’s creation in the clouds, through its fall to earth, to its brief and sparkling appearance on a child’s mitten.  Told by a scientist who knows snowflakes better than almost anyone, the story features his brilliant photographs of real snowflakes, snowflakes forming (in the author’s lab), water evaporating, clouds developing, ice crystals, rain, dew, and frost--all the elements of the world and weather that add up, flake by flake, to the white landscape of winter.  (goodreads summary)    

I know we have had an over abundance of snow throughout the US and wish Old Man Winter would give us a break already.  But, have you ever really looked at a snowflake? This book may just answer that question for you. The author is a professor of physics and holds an interesting hobby studying snowflakes under the microscope and photographing them. The text is well written for a child and will make a great science read. The pictures are captivating and its hard to imagine that a snowflake can be so detailed. It also describes the process of snow and how it is formed beginning with water, clouds and then into the birth of a snowflake.  This is a wonderful book for a child who has interests in anything relating to  science. At the back of the book, it even describes how to make the best snowflake ever out of paper.  I enjoyed reading this one and taking in the beauty of something that can be so unpredictable.  The recommended ages for this book was 6-12 but I feel that it would be a just right book for age 6-10 instead.  The author answers questions about our natural world and it would make a great addition for a classroom science library.

Title: The Secret Life of A Snowflake
Author: Kenneth Libbrecht
Genre:  Non Fiction
Pub. Date: October 2009, Voyageur Press
Hardcover, 48 pgs.
booksource: local library visit