Snow Magic

by Harriet Ziefert, Claire Schumacher (Illustrator)

When the first snow of the year falls on the first day of winter, all the snow people have a snow party.

Genres: Picture Books

36 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1988

About the author

Harriet Ziefert grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey, where she attended the local schools. She graduated from Smith College, then received a Masters degree in Education from New York University.

For many years, Ziefert was an elementary school teacher. She taught most grades from kindergarten to fifth grade. "I liked it," she said, but she stopped teaching when she had her own sons. When her children were older, Ziefert wanted "a bigger arena" for her work. She went to work at a publishing company, Scholastic in New York City, developing materials for teacher's guides for kindergarten language arts and social studies programs.

"About twelve years ago," says Ziefert in a 1995 interview, "I tried to get a job as an editor, but no one would hire me as a trade editor. So I decided to write my own books." Since then, she has written several hundred books, mostly picture books and easy-to-read books. "I write books very quickly," she says, "in about twelve hours. I rewrite them three times over three days, and then they're done." She writes about twenty books a year.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well and honestly, I have most definitely found Snow Magic rather majorly and personally disappointing, and mostly so because yes indeed, I was kind of if not actually totally expecting that both Harriet Ziefert’s presented narrative and Claire Schumacher’s accompanying artwork would first and foremost, would primarily be about snow as a delightful and beautiful natural phenomenon, that Ziefert’s text and Schumacher’s pictures would mostly be focussing on a celebration of snow and wintertime as magical and wonderful entities of climate, of weather, of the seasons, and NOT just depict and describe a story that is for the most part about a fantastical outdoors party set up and attended by a group of so-called snow people. For while Snow Magic certainly does to a point fete winter fun and games, the entire storyline presented by Harriet Ziefert (textually) and Claire Schumacher (visually) with the arrival of many snow people to partake in an impromptu get-together of singing, dancing etc., it just is not what I was fondly hoping for when I downloaded and borrowed Snow Magic on Open Library.

Therefore, because Snow Magic really has not at all been the textual and visual love affair with snow and the winter season I was desiring and hoping for, my rating equally can and will only be showing but two stars at best. Because while there is of course nothing inherently wrong or not appropriate with regard to Harriet Ziefert’s printed words (with her story) and with Claire Schumacher’s art, I most certainly have found the book title of Snow Magic rather problematically misleading, as both the words and the illustration gracing the book cover image do (at least in my humble opinion) absolutely suggest a main focus on snow as snow and not mostly and primarily on a party attended by snow men, snow women and snow children (and yes, this has therefore and most definitely made Snow Magic into a rather major personal reading and aesthetic flop and bust).

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The snow people come out and throw a party in celebration of it snowing on the first day of winter.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Snow Magic (Hardcover)
by Harriet Ziefert
Read this as a time filler for second grade.
this book shows the magic of a community coming together to celebrate the first snow, as it quietly sets upon the world. It is a cute story to show imagination and discuss holiday's and why people celebrate them