The photographs are the star of this book: the author photographs them with a microscope and shines colored lights through the ice from behind to make them appear colorful rather than clear.

Information-wise, this is better for elementary school than preschool. There is plenty of information about snowflakes (including instructions for how to make a paper snowflake).

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Re-read February 2021 ( )

To see this review as well as this week's favorite children's books please visit www.readrantrockandroll.com

The Secret Life of a Snowflake has to be one of the most beautiful children's science books I've seen. The author, Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, is a professor of physics and studies crystals. Not only does the book contain many photographs of Dr. Libbrecht's snowflake finding's, it also teaches facts about them. Many of these facts I never knew as an adult which makes this a book for everyone. Some of them include:

-Why is snow the color white?
-How are snowflakes made?
-Why are they all so different?
-Why do snowflakes all have 6 branches?

The author even covers the different states of water, clouds, the birth of a snowflake, and provides a pattern for cutting your own paper snowflake.

This is a wonderful book that would be perfect for applying in a science curriculum for kids. If you simply can't wait to read this book, you can visit his website at www.snowcrystals.com. Here you will find countless photos of close-up snowflakes. Simply Amazing.

5***** ( )

The beautiful close-ups of snowflakes will captivate any student. It is a great book to interest children in science. Because of some difficult words, it might not be the best book to give to younger elementary students. However, it would be a great book for fourth or fifth graders. This book will teach them a lot of interesting facts about snowflakes as well give them a chance to see snowflakes like they've never seen them before.

What do snowflakes have to do with the Cal Tech Physics Department? A lot, come to find out! Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht uses snowflakes to study how crystals grow, and how temperature affects the direction and depth of crystal growth. Everyone's heard that no two snowflakes are alike, but because Libbrecht has documented the many different ways snowflakes develop and form, he's also managed to do the math to tell how many different kind of snowflakes there can be, and it's a bigger number than the number of atoms in the universe. (Get OUT! Really??) Why is snow white? Why do we sometimes get giant clumpy flakes, and sometimes tiny powdery flakes? How come snowflakes never have 5 or 7 "arms"? This illustrated guide makes understanding the science of snow easy, and the photos are incredible! Dr. Libbrecht takes his own photos of snowflakes, using a microscope, so you get o see all of the magical hexagonal details. He's also written other books on snow, and keeps a CalTech webpage about snow. Aimed for grades 4-6, this is a delightful, fun read for winter. ( )