Well with the impending snow storm (and hopefully a snow day!) I thought I would take a look at a favorite snow activity - building a snowman! (Or should I say ‘snow woman’ or ‘snow people’?). Who does not love to build one?

Right after a snowfall, everyone quickly checks snow quality for its stickiness so they can build stuff with it. Children love to roll up the snow to see how big they can get it and then scurry around (inside and outside of the house) to personalize their creation. No story captures and extends the imagination like Caralyn and Mark Buehner‘s Snowmen at Night.

Snowmen at Night is a picture book about a little boy who builds a snowman with all of the trimmings; hat, twig arms, eyes, mouth, carrot nose and a scarf. But the next day he notices that his snowman is a bit askew and wonders what his snowman could’ve possibly been up to over the night.

And thus the adventure begins. This rhyme story delightfully illustrates what snow people partake in while we are fast asleep. They are much like you and me. Snow people like snowball fights, wintertime drinks (COLD chocolate, not hot), and they like ice skating and sledding (and fall just like us). The book is playfully illustrated with a whole neighborhood of snow people joyfully enjoying the great snowy weather.

Snowmen at Night really triggers the imagination. It is fun to get children to imagine what snow people may be up to as we sleep. This book is geared to children in lower elementary grades and younger. But this story is still interesting to older children, especially since the illustrator includes extra secret hidden images in each picture. Enjoy hunting for a dinosaur, Santa, a bunny or a cat in the snowdrifts, clouds - or even in the moon!

So as the snow approaches, read Snowmen at Night by Caralyn and Mark Buehner, set aside some snowman supplies, and get ready for the incoming snow - and hopefully a snow day. (I have learned from students through the years of teaching that to get a snow day one should wear one’s pajamas backwards, sleep with a spoon under one’s pillow and flush three ice cubes - just sayin’.)

Lisa Bankey is a parent, an Enrichment Facilitator for the Ann Arbor Public Schools, and a librarian-in-training who blogs about Children’s Literature for AnnArbor.com. Lisa can be reached at lisabookblog@gmail.com.