This Caldecott Medal winning book poetically reveals the life of the photographer and farmer, Wilson Bentley. From the time he was a small boy, Willie was fascinated by snowflakes. This was fortunate since he lived in an area of Vermont called the “Snowbelt,” which receives up to 120 inches of snowfall per year. Educated at home, Willie spent many hours through many winters studying individual snowflakes. He identified their universal hexagonal shape and drew hundreds of pictures. At the age of seventeen, his parents bought him a special camera that worked with a microscope, and Willie began to photograph the snowflakes that he was so passionate about. Throughout his life, Wilson Bentley refined his photography, capturing the images of thousands of snowflakes, no two alike. At the age of sixty-six, a book of his work was published. This book brought the beauty and wonder of the Vermont snow to people all over the world.
OBJECTIVES
• Children will learn about the life and work of Wilson Bentley.
• Children will examine the qualities and properties of snowflakes.
• Children will learn about research and scientific investigation.