About the Holiday
For children who live in northern climates, winter brings dreams of snow and all the enjoyment that goes with this fluffy, malleable, cooold precipitation. Snow isn’t just for playing in (or shoveling) though. It provides plenty of opportunities to engage with science in a fun and fascinating way—as you’ll see in today’s book!
Flurry, Float, and Fly!: The Story of a Snowstorm
Written by Laura Purdie Salas | Illustrated by Chiara Fedele
As readers open Flurry, Float, and Fly! autumn is welcoming its first impromptu snowflakes. The golden hues of fall still carpet the hills as “clouds lie heavy, gray, and low,” animals watch, and two children, anticipation in their hearts, don coats and boots. The siblings emerge from their house and pull out their sled.
There’s movement in the atmosphere: “From the north, a polar freeze . . . from the south, a humid breeze. All winds advance. They mix and dance.” And yet the children wait; they watch, and sit. There is no snow for sledding. But the winds are just getting started—picking up dust, working together. At last, a “tiny drop turns into ice— / six small sides, / arranged. / precise.”
Illustration © 2025 Chiara Fedele. Text © 2025 Laura Purdie Salas. Courtesy of Bloomsbury Children’s Books.
The crystals grow and begin to drift. They’re all unique. How can that be? “Each cloud’s type— / how cold?— / how wet?— / shapes each crystal’s silhouette.” The kids are ready; the snow is falling! Mom tells them that dinner’s calling. All night long the flakes float down. In the morning the world’s transformed into a winter playscape for snowmen, snow forts, and finally . . . sledding “before it’s time to say goodbye to flakes that flurry . . . float . . . and fly!”
Illustration © 2025 Chiara Fedele. Text © 2025 Laura Purdie Salas. Courtesy of Bloomsbury Children’s Books.
In her back matter, Laura Purdie Salas describes in clear and easy-to-understand language the science behind the formation of snow. She addresses the ingredients of a snowstorm, the polar jet stream, how snowflakes form and fall, and even how long it takes for a snowflake to drift to Earth. Salas also describes six common shapes of snowflakes (along with photographs) and includes websites, videos, and books for further research.
Illustration © 2025 Chiara Fedele. Text © 2025 Laura Purdie Salas. Courtesy of Bloomsbury Children’s Books.
Mixing winter hopes with science, Laura Purdie Salas’s rhyming storytelling flows as smoothly and joyfully as a sled ride down a snowy hill. Young readers will be just as invested in the suspense of the changing weather as the two siblings and forest animals who watch and feel it coming. Salas’s lyrical descriptions of how snowflakes are created are as much a marvel as the real thing, sparking excitement for learning as well as for the wonders of the season.
Chiara Fedele’s gorgeous watercolor, gouache, and colored-pencil illustrations are sumptuous portrayals of a landscape in flux as clouds bearing snow form above hills sparsely populated with homes. As winds roil, readers join two children with their minds set on sledding. As Salas’s verses begin portraying the scientific creation of snowflakes, Fedele spatters a spread with hazy white dots that with just a page turn become clearly delineated, luminescent crystals children can marvel over. Cozy images of the children and their mother through the home’s windows glow with familial warmth as squirrels, a badger, and a fox curl up in their snug dens.
Both young and adult readers will enjoy spying the squirrel, fox, badger, and raven from page to page, as well as the sibling’s changing fortunes. As the snow and dusk begin to fall at the same time, Fedele masterfully gives children a bird’s eye view of the conversation between the siblings and their mother, entirely understood by the characters’ gestures. The final two spreads reward the sibling’s patience as their friends arrive for exuberant winter play—and that long-awaited sled ride.
An exquisite and spellbinding story, Flurry, Float, and Fly!: The Story of a Snowstorm is creative nonfiction at its finest. The book is one you’ll want to add to your home or library collection. Teachers, science and nature educators, and homeschools will find this book to be a valuable resource to engage all learners. See below for how to access activities and resources to accompany the book.
Ages 4 – 7
Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2025 | ISBN 978-1547603503
About the Author
Former teacher Laura Purdie Salas is the author of more than 130 books for kids, including Lion of the Sky, We Belong, Water Can Be…, and BookSpeak! Laura grew up in Florida, but she has lived in Minnesota all her adult life. She loves thunderstorms, snowstorms, and brainstorms. She’s also a big fan of game nights, donuts, and getting up early in the morning. Visit her at laurasalas.com and on Instagram @laurapsalas.
About the Illustrator
Chiara Fedele was born in Milan and now lives in a nearby village. She took a degree in Illustration at La Scuola del Fumetto. Chiara works with Italian and international publishers. She has won a number of awards including the Premio Cento Illustrator Competition in 2008, Sydney Taylor Award Silver Medal in 2018 and 3×3 International Illustration Award Merit in 2019. You can visit her at chiarafedeleillustrator.it and on Insta: @chiaraillu.
Welcome Winter Activity
Flurry, Float and Fly! Coloring Pages and More!
Laura Purdie Salas welcomes children, readers, and educators to engage with Flurry, Float and Fly!: The Story of a Snowstorm through coloring pages, a winter trivia activity, and a teacher’s guide, plus so many more activity pages and ideas that will keep kids excited about words, writing, learning, and observing for home and classroom use. Just take a look through her dropdown menus to get started having fun!
Laura Purdie Salas Downloadables & Resources
You can purchase Flurry, Float, and Fly!: The Story of a Snowstorm from these booksellers
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop
Picture Book Review
celebratepicturebooks.com 