From: Kathleen Horning <horning>
Date: Thu, 04 Feb 1999 09:52:57 -0600

In response to Judy O'Malley and Walter Mayes' astute comments about "Snowflake Bentley," I'll jump in to say that I, too, was surprised when the winner was announced but I must say it was a pleasant surprise! I was surprised only because I hadn't even thought of the book myself as a contender, most probably because it was nonfiction, I'm sad to confess. But as soon as the announcement was made, it seemed like the perfect choice to me.

While I agree that the writing in the book is, without question, excellent, I also believe that the art is truly distinguished as well. If you apply the actual Caldecott terms to "Snowflake Bentley" I think you'll see how well the art measures up. These are the official terms the actual committee considers:

Excellence of execution in the artistic technique employed. Excellence of pictorial interpretation of story, theme, or concept; of appropriateness of style of illustration to the story, theme, or concept; of delineation of plot, theme, characters, setting, mood, or information through the pictures.

Like Walter, I wondered about the repeated use of the snowflake design in the book as well. It seemed to run counter to the theme of individuality (both of Bentley himself and of the snowflakes to which he devoted his life). Does anyone have any thoughts as to why the illustrator may have made this choice?



Kathleen T. Horning (khorning at facstaff.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706
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Received on Thu 04 Feb 1999 09:52:57 AM CST