The Snow Show

"Hey dad, where does snow come from?" will never be a question you'll need to field again... 

THREE PROS

*Breaks down a complicated concept so deftly it can even be understood by the densest snowflake in your home   

*Carolyn Fisher's decision to deliver the info as if we were watching a cable tv taping reinforces the learning process
*Has plenty of extra content on the last two pages for those who want to dive even deeper into snow

THREE CONS 

*Reading Chef Kelvin's 'witty' sidebars on every page only served to freeze the momentum of what would otherwise be a fun scientific read -- comic relief is a great arrow in a writer's quiver, but sometimes the writer has to write less and let the pictures do the talking for her/him 
*Similarly the 'commercial break' might make it feel like more of a tv show, but stymies the story unnecessarily 

*Could have consolidated all of the snow crystal shapes in the back glossary instead of bogging down the meat of the book with a virtually unreadable page

ONE DAD'S OPINION
The Snow Show reminded me of snowfall in the middle of spring.  It's a beautiful experience that is quickly muddied up by external factors.  By choosing to focus on Fisher's actual snow-creation process and ignoring all the extra precipitation surrounding it, you'd be hard pressed to think this is anything other than a Buy.  However, if you try and read every word on each page before turning to the next, you'll melt away the good memories before they can accumulate.  For this reason, this book, much like the very thing it discusses, is living on Borrowed time. 

Buy / BORROW / Donate / Destroy