What Makes a Blizzard?: An Illustrated Science Book About Winter Storms for Kids (Ages 4-8)

Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 2

by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld, Maddie Frost (Illustrator)

Read and find out about blizzards in this colorfully illustrated nonfiction picture book. All blizzards are snowstorms, but not all snowstorms are blizzards. What is the difference? How much snow falls during a blizzard? How fast are the winds? How cold does it get during a blizzard? Read and find out!  What Makes a Blizzard comes chock-full of visual aids like charts, sidebars, and hands-on activities—including how to keep a winter weather journal and how to observe what a snowflake really looks like. This is a clear and appealing science book for early elementary age kids, both at home and in the classroom. It's a Level 2 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out, which means the book explores more challenging concepts for children in the primary grades. The 100+ titles in this leading nonfiction series are: Top 10 reasons to love LRFOs: Books in this series support the Common Core Learning Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards. Let's-Read-and-Find-Out is the winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Outstanding Science Series.

Genres: Science, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld is the award-winning author of more than sixty books for children, including DINOSAUR TRACKS, "a great choice for even the most discriminating dinophiles" (School Library Journal); DID DINOSAURS HAVE FEATHERS?, a Children's Book of the Month Club selection, described as "fascinating" by Kirkus Reviews; and DINOSAURS BIG AND SMALL, a 2003 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Book Award winner.

When she's not reading, researching, writing, or editing, Kathleen loves to spend her free time exploring, doing fieldwork, and preparing fossils for her local natural history museums.

Reviews

[Abigail]

Part science, part history, What Makes a Blizzard? uses the story of the Schoolchildren's Blizzard of 1888 to answer the questions: What distinguishes a blizzard from a regular snowstorm? How much snow falls during a blizzard? How fast do the winds blow? How cold does it get? The main narrative is supplemented by a number of sidebars, addressing everything from the structure of snowflakes to the water cycle, that add to the reader's understanding of the topic under discussion. A brief afterword provides more information, as well as a glossary of terms.

Part of publisher HarperCollins' Let's Read and Find Out Science series, What Makes a Blizzard addresses a number of important topics, from the definition of a blizzard to the historical significance of the aforementioned Schoolchildren's Blizzard. It's quite topical right now, as New York City, where I live and work, just experienced a blizzard warning, and the first severe winter storm of 2018. How appropriate that we have this new title at work, and can put it on our "Winter Wonders" display. Blizzards can be dangerous, after all, but they do produce wonders! Recommended to young science and history buffs, as well as any child from four to seven who is curious about these extreme winter weather events.

[Anthony]

This book tells the reader what and how a blizzard is formed. Snow, wind speed, low visibility are the three major elements that make up a blizzard. Several weather and science terms are explained, and a small historic event known as the Schoolchildren's Blizzard of January 12, 1888 is mentioned, and how the word blizzard was introduced into the lexicon of everyday usage.

[Caitlin]

Very well written and explained how blizzards work in an easy to understand fashion. Also really loved the illustrations.

[Pam]

Information text about blizzards.
Tells the story of The Schoolchildren's Blizzard in 1888 and works in weather facts.
Glossary and activities included at the end of the book.

[Herold Homeschool]

Fantastic series of books and we like the experiments in the back of the book

[K Morlando]

An excellent resource used for our class unit.

[Jade Wolf]

We live in the Midwest and while we don’t get a lot of blizzards it was a wonderful book to introduce my little too while we learn about winter weather. Informative and story telling on point.

[Dawn]

Browsing books to give my friends' children as gifts since I won't gift anything I haven't first read myself.

For a child that is intrigued by weather, this would be a great book for their library. Informative and "science-y" but the subject matter is covered in a way that is interesting, even for an adult, and explained in ways that are easy to grasp the concepts. I also thought that the artwork was really rather beautiful. I might be careful, though, of giving this to a child who gets anxious about things like weather events, because the opening scenario involves children in the 1800s getting caught off guard by a blizzard while at school (Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter, anyone? I actually had to look up whether or not that was the blizzard being referenced!).

[Kelly]

I read this book while it was snowing outside and while drinking hot chocolate. It was nice. I learned some stuff. I also wish I had more hot chocolate.

[Lisa K]

tagging 7-Sisters because Zoehfeld went to Mount Holyoke and i don't want to start a whole shelf just for that (do I??)

She uses the winter of 1887-88 (in the midwest, especially, not New England) as an entry point to the topic of blizzards. Activities suggested, words defined. A nice science book for early readers with terrific pictures (except: I thought snowflakes never had a hole in the center?).