Snowflake Bentley » (~)

Jacqueline Briggs Martin is the author of Snowflake Bentley, winner of the 1999 Caldecott Medal, and The Lamp, the Ice, and the Boat Called Fish, an ALA Notable Book, a Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book, Riverbank Review Finalist, Notable Social Studies Trade book and winner of The Golden Kite Award for Illustration. She grew up on a farm in Maine much like the one in this story. She lives in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

Caldecott Medalist Mary Azarian is a consummate gardener and a skilled and original woodblock artist. Many of her prints are heavily influenced by her love of gardening, and her turn-of-the-century farmhouse is surrounded by gardens that reveal an artist's vision. Mary Azarian received the 1999 Caldecott Medal for SNOWFLAKE BENTLEY, written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. She lives, skis, and gardens in Vermont.

From the time he was a small boy, Wilson Bentley thought of the icy crystals as small miracles. And he determined that one day his camera would capture for others the wonder of the tiny crystals.

Bentley's enthusiasm for photographing snowflakes was often misunderstood in his time, but his patience and determination revealed two important truths about snowflakes: first, that no two are alike and second, that each one is startlingly beautiful. His story, gracefully told by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and brought to life in Mary Azarian's lovely woodcuts, gives children insight into a soul who had not only a scientist's vision and perseverance but a clear passion for the wonders of nature.

"Of all the forms of water the tiny six-pointed crystals of ice called snow are incomparably the most beautiful and varied."

Martha Davis Beck

Jacqueline Briggs Martin tells the story of 'Snowflake' Bentley with affection and grace. . .Readers will be inspired by this story of a man who was both scientist and artist, who let his deepest interests lead him through life, who found beauty in something others found common—and in the process opened up a part of the world we otherwise might not know.
-- Riverbank Review