Snowflake Bentley

My memories of childhood are of white winters and deep snowfalls. Like anyone in a perfect snowstorm, I have often looked at the flakes on the shoulders and sleeves of my coat and wished I could preserve that perfect crystal. I also wondered if the saying was true—that no two snowflakes are alike—and how anyone could possibly know.

I had no idea as a child that a Vermont farmer, Wilson Bentley, studied and photographed snowflakes for years, leading to discoveries about these six-sided, fleeting jewels. In Snowflake Bentley (another Caldecott recipient), Jacqueline Martin introduces us to a time “In the… show more.

This beautiful picture book showcases the life of the man who invented a way to photograph snowflakes and revealed that no two are alike. William Bentley, the boy who loved snow more than anything else in the world, spent hours in the cold studying ice crystals. Even when they constantly melted, he didn’t quit until he managed to photograph them! His images of stunning, intricate, unique snowflakes are a testament to the wonder of nature and perseverance.

This Caldecott winner tells the story of Wilson Alwyn Bentley, whose stunningly beautiful and accurate photographs of snowflakes and other water formations fostered much scientific research, not to mention a popular fascination with this exquisite aspect of natural history. The book’s elegant prose and colorful woodcut prints bring to life Bentley’s nineteenth-century Vermont farming community, from his childhood explorations of nature to the state-of-the-art microscope camera that cost his parents as much as their herd of cows, to the slide shows he presented to friends and neighbors featuring his marvelous photographs.

In reading Snowflake Bentley, I was struck by… show more.