SNOW - SNOWFLAKE
|SNOW - SNOWFLAKE
Stories, Folktales, Folklore, Fairy Tales, Legends,
Myths, History, Nursery Rhymes, Fantasy & Facts
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• Books about Snow - Snowflakes - All Ages
• Online Links to Stories/Info- Snow-Snowflakes
• SOS - Searching Out Stories-Snow-Snowflakes
Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers,
Teachers and Librarians
BOOKS ABOUT SNOW - SNOWFLAKES - ALL AGES
|Is Your Storytale Dragging?
by Jean Stangl. (1988)
|The Art of the Snowflake: A Photographic Album
by Kenneth G. Libbrecht. (2003)
Microphotographs of real snowflakes show the amazing beauty and science behind nature's creations. This year his photos were honored by the U.S. Postal Service in a set of holiday stamps
|Snowflake (Breyer Stablemates)
by Kristin Earhart with Jacqueline Rogers (illus). (2006 - Ages 4-8)
Snowflake is a Percheron horse who was abandoned by his owners. He is taken to Fox Creek Farm, where Emily, Anna, and Mandy volunteer to care for him. As winter approaches, they worry that Snowflake will be cold. So, the girls plan a sleigh ride to help raise money to buy Snowflake a blanket!
|Snowflake Bentley (Caldecott Medal Book)
by Jacqueline Briggs Martin with Mary Azarian (illus). (1998 - Ages 4-8)
This beautiful biography tells the true story of a Vermont farm boy who was mesmerized by snowflakes. Wilson Bentley was fascinated by the six-sided frozen phenomena, and once he acquired a microscope with a camera, his childhood preoccupation took on a more scientific leaning. The lovely illustrations and equally fresh text will inspire and comfort youngsters (and grownups too) who wish they could capture snowflakes all year long.
|Tiny Snowflake Picture Book (board book) by Art Ginolfi "One winter night, high above the earth, water droplets began to freeze and turn into snowflakes. While the snowflakes fell, they were amazed at how different they were from each other..." Lacy, the tiny snowflake, searches for her special purpose in life.|
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ONLINE LINKS ABOUT SNOW AND SNOWFLAKES
"The Snow Maiden" - Russian folktale.
"Rainbow Crow" (Lenni Lenape Tribe) as retold by S. E. Schlosser, American Folklore.
"Babe the Blue Ox" as retold by S. E. Schlosser, American Folklore. Takes place in the Winter of the Blue Snow.
"The Snow, the Crow and the Blood," a folktale from Donegal, Ireland told by Seumas MacManus and edited by D.L. Ashliman.
"Christmas Under the Snow" by Olive Thorne Miller, from 4to40.com.
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SOS: SEARCHING OUT STORIES AND INFORMATION - SNOW - SNOWFLAKES
Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians
(excerpts from Storytell posts plus original research)
Book titles and online links are in blue and underlined. Click on them to get more stories and information.
Story titles are in quotation marks.
To retell any stories, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
Posts are added chronologically as they are received by Story Lovers World.
1) Rabbi Yitzchak Feldheim says: "The first time I remember experiencing awe was when I learned as a young child that no two snowflakes were alike." He later comments on how essential snow is to our planet: "If the ground were to freeze over the winter, nothing would be able to grow come spring. The snow falls loosely on the earth, blanketing the entire landscape. Since the snow is loose and not tightly compacted there are pockets of air beneath the planet. It is these pockets of warmer air trapped beneath the blanket of snow that protect the earth for the duration of the winter. It is mind boggling to conceive of the divine engineering that went into the design of the snowflake to allow it to serve this function. The design of the snowflake with its crystal like arms allow for the snow flakes to join together to form a blanket and yet at the same time the crystals prevent the snowflakes from melding into one, which would allow the snow to combine too tightly to allow for air to become trapped inside. The perfect balance of joining as one and yet remaining separate."
The next time you see snow blanketing the earth, don't focus on what a nuisance it will be to drive in, or what you'll do for work if they cancel school, or how cold it is outside. You are looking at a miracle. Don't let it pass you by.
2) "The Identical Snowflakes"by Michael Gugliotto - an animated inspirational story
A Scientist discovered that two snowflakes he recently found were identical. The world was shocked! "How could this be?" they thought in sheer disbelief. "It will change life as we know it," some people thought. They had to see it to believe it. The scientist froze the two identical snowlakes so they would not melt and displayed them in a museum. People from around the world came to look at the snowflakes. One man looked at it and went madly insane. This frightened some people. People from everywhere were arguing and puzzled about the snowflakes....
The rest of the story is at:
3) "The Smallest Snowflake" — an inspirational story.
Christiana was the smallest of all the snowflakes. It seemed she and her family, along with many other snowflake families, had been floating always through the long day as she tumbled delightfully about with her friends. But their journey took them as well through seemingly endless freezing cold and darkness. Sometimes the north wind blew them along their way so hard she could scarcely breathe. At these times, as much as the bracing wind would permit, Christiana huddled close to her parents, Celeste and Chaucer, completely unaware that they were as uncomfortable as she.
At other times they were assailed by a gust of warmer air up in the atmosphere that threatened their very lives. Afraid, the little crystalline beauty would bow her minuscule head and cry. Celeste and Chaucer tried to shield and protect their little progeny as best they could.
Sometimes however, it was all they could do to hold on themselves. The beloved but naive little snowflake was oblivious to everything but observances from her youthful perspective and her own unreliable emotions and feelings. Life seemed to her a series of events: those that made her feel good, the ones she relished with great glee, and those that were so traumatic they drove her to despair. These ups and downs were punctuated with exasperating periods of sheer boredom.
Between the frigid wind that blew them, forcing them along in their descent to the earth, and their greatest foe, the warm counter-winds that swished by occasionally and threatened to dissolve them, the snowflake life was much more treacherous than observers might perceive it to be.
On their flight to the earth, the snowflake highs were very high indeed. It was almost like a symphony as they floated along together when none of their enemies were nearby. The sound of snowflake laughter and singing were delightful to the ear. But, as quickly as they had begun, these delightful times became a memory, as worries and trials became their portion once more.
Each time these difficult periods came 'round again, the music ceased and tension, fear, and strife shoved aside the joy and began to rule....
The rest of this story is at:
4) "The Snowflake and the Leaf" by Helen Preble, in the Christian Register.
The big sky above the hard, frozen ground was dark. The little stars had hidden their winking, yellow eyes, and the round old moon had forgotten to  shine. Big, black clouds were hurrying past each other, back and forth, from east to west.
Up on the old oak tree, at the corner of the lane, a little leaf still clung. He was very tiny, very brown, and very much wrinkled; but still he kept a tight hold on the stiff old branch where he had lived all his life.
"Ugh!" he said, as he shivered, and clung still closer, "it's going to rain again. I'm sure I felt a drop just then."
But it was not a drop of rain, but a soft, cold something else, which nestled down among the brown wrinkles. The leaf stirred, and then shivered again.
"What is the matter?" queried a sweet voice.
"I'm very cold," said the leaf.
"Are you? What makes you cold?" asked the voice.
"I think it is—you," said the leaf, slowly; for he did not want to hurt any one's feelings.
"Oh, no; I'm sure it's not I, because I'm not cold; and if I made you cold I would be cold, too, wouldn't I?"
"I suppose you would," said the leaf, thoughtfully. "But, anyway, I'm not as warm as I am in the summertime. I'm lonesome, too, up here alone—that is, I am when you are not here," he added, politely.
"What is summer?" asked the snowflake. "I never heard about it."
"It is a very nice time," said the leaf, hugging the old tree, and drawing his tight edges close. "It's the time when you are green and soft—and warm," he added, with a sigh.
"I don't believe we have it, then, up where I live," said the snowflake; "for I never remember being green."
 "It is very pleasant in summer," went on the leaf. "The birds perch upon the branches here, and sing so sweetly. Once a robin built a beautiful nest just here, where we are now. It was a large nest made of hay and threads, woven nicely together. One day, after the nest was built, and the mother bird had been staying there nearly all the time, I saw four tiny birds, with great big mouths, wide open. It seemed to me that they were always calling to be fed, and the mother and father were busy from morning till night fetching worms for those hungry little ones. But before long they learned to fly, and, one by one, they left the nest and flew out into the world.
"I am never alone in the summer, for the tree is full of leaves, but they have all fallen off until only I am left. Every time the wind blows, I expect to go, too."
"Where will you go?" asked the snowflake, with much interest.
"Oh, I shall drop to the ground below, and grow smaller and smaller. Then I shall sink down underneath, where the new grass is getting ready to sprout in the spring and the violets are waiting for the sun to bid them unfold their buds."
"Is it nice down there, in the dark?" asked the snowflake.
"Oh, yes," said the leaf. "It is very warm and sweet, and not a bit lonely, for the worms and bugs and roots and seeds are all busy, getting ready for the spring."
Just then a heavy gust of wind shook the old oak tree, and down fell the little brown leaf and the snowflake, too. The snowflake melted at once, but the little leaf waited happily there until he should reach the busy little world under the ground.
From The Baldwin Project at:
5) "Snowflake's Story"
Once upon a time in the land of Spirit,
A raindrop splashed happily in its puddle.
And suddenly it heard the call of the Spirit-wind.
"Come, come with me. I want to transform you.
I want to take you on a journey that will change you."
And the raindrop splashed and laughed and continued to play.
"I am fine here. I do not wish to go."
But the Spirit-wind persisted.
"Come, let go of your comfort.
Come with me and I will change you."
So strong was the urging that the raindrop let go and followed.
And the Spirit-wind surrounded it with its very breath
and carried it close to Spirit's heart
And the drop turned round and round,
and was shaped in Spirit's hands. . . .
shaped with arms that reached out,
shaped with a center so strong.
It was transformed uniquely and beautifully,
and it began to fall gently toward the ground.
It swirled and floated
and finally landed upon the face of a child,
who squealed in delight,
"Oooh, a snowflake."
And the Spirit-wind whispered,
"You have become who you are meant to be.
Spirit is well-pleased."
Found on this website:
Jane C. 12/1/05
6) "The Mouse and the Snowflake." The original is called "Nibble, Nibble" in Is Your Storytale Dragging? I've used mice, chipmunks, rabbits, groundhogs for the animal -- any soft furry rodent (SFR) will do!
You start with a piece of square paper folded into 6 layers, just like you would cut a snowflake. If you remember how to cut a snowflake by taking small snips from the 2 sides where the folds are, the story will make more sense.
Softly and gently it fell, down, down, onto the ground where SFR was. It looked like a kite, so he went closer. SFR sniffed the strange object. It didn't smell like anything he'd ever smelled, so he went closer. He pushed it several times with his nose (cut off 1/2 of top edge that will be the outside of the snowflake). It was cold! He was puzzled. He sniffed closer and touched it with his nose. It tickled! (cut off other half of top edge, you now have something that looks like an ice cream cone shape, still folded into 6 layers). Maybe it was an ice cream cone. SFR took a huge bite. t off pointed tip, where the bottom of the cone would be). No! It wasn't ice cream. It had no taste. SFR took a few more bites. (make cuts into side of cone shape, like little half circles) It was yummy, so SFR decided to push it down into his hole. He pushed it with his nose but he pushed right through it. (cut bigger half circle on other side) He tried to hit with his paws, but it made his paw cold (another half circle). He pushed it and pushed it, down into his dark hole. (last half circle cut) The strange thing fell down into his dark hole. SFR scurried downto find it, but it was gone! (palm shape in your hand so it's not visible). Where could it have gone and what was it? (By now the kids are giving all sorts of advice about what it is and where it went). There was only a wet spot on the bottom of the burrow, and SFR never figured out that what he had been nibbling and pushing on was ... (open it up) a SNOWFLAKE! I use cheap, light napkins - as I prefer cutting to tearing. And by using napkins, the folding is easier and faster.
"Nibble, Nibble" is an interactive story with paper tearing that is about a mouse on a train that is hit on the head by a strange paper object. ( It's ends up with a ... snowflake.)
I've changed it a bit by using a paper napkin -cheap kind that tears easily- makes it easy to have some prefolded and if you have small audience, they can make a snowflake too, after the telling is over. I can send those directions too.
Hope this helps. It's a real "crowd pleaser."
Ina V.D. 1/27/06
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