About the Holiday
Whether you’re making precise cuts or just snipping away to see what pattern emerges, creating paper snowflakes is a fun wintertime activity for both adults and children. This craft that decorates homes, classroom, libraries, community centers, and shops worldwide actually stems from a variation on origami, called kirigami. While both art forms involve folded paper, in kirigami the paper is unfolded and cuts are made in desired places. Snowflake making is a bit of a combination of the two, where the cuts are made while the paper is still folded. Why do we want to make snowflakes when there may be so many outside? Well, maybe the intricate uniqueness of snowflakes inspires us to be our best unique selves, and for residents of Southern regions, as I was while growing up, the paper variety are the closest thing there is to the real ones.
If Snowflakes Tasted Like Fruitcake
By Stacey Previn
Snowflakes gently fluttering down from a gray winter sky seem to tease “catch me if you can!” Perhaps it’s their similarity to coconut shavings or confectioners’ sugar sifted over a delicious cake that inspires us to stick our tongues out to taste those little white flakes. But what do they really taste like? And what if they tasted like other yummy foods? Stacey Previn explores that idea, starting with a winter favorite—“If snowflakes tasted like sugar plums…they’d be dancing in my head.” Or perhaps they are better for breakfast—“If snowflakes tasted like oatmeal…they would get me out of bed.”
Image and text copyright Stacey Previn, 2016, courtesy of simonandschuster.com
Maybe snowflakes would be better in a mug—“If snowflakes tasted like cocoa…they would warm me to my toes” Or if they came in whipped cream dollops, “they would tickle me on my nose.” Imagine “if snowflakes tasted like apples…” you could “bake them in a pie.” And “if snowflakes tasted like peppermint…” we’d “wish more fell from the sky.”
Image and text copyright Stacey Previn, 2016, courtesy of simonandschuster.com
Sometimes snowflakes twinkle like diamonds, but what if they were as shiny as gumdrops? Or imagine if they were as warm and soothing as noodle soup. Still, there is that title question: what “if snowflakes tasted like fruitcake?” Well, then, I’m afraid we “would give them all away.” So what is that special flavor that makes us stick out our tongues? “Winter,” of course!
Image and text copyright Stacey Previn, 2016, courtesy of simonandschuster.com
Stacey Previn offers up a whimsical, culinary menu of various taste sensations that might entice readers to eat up winter’s delicate, white morsels, including those above as well as honey, figs, chestnuts, gingerbread, popcorn, and marshmallows. Accompanying each verse are richly colored and wood-grain-textured folk-art illustrations that enhance the homey nature of the book. From verse to verse, a red-snowsuited child, joyful to wake to falling snow, imagines shaking snowflakes from tree branches, building a snowman and a snow choir, roasting snowflakes in a pan, catching snowflakes in a spoon, a net, a ladle, and more.
Copyright Stacey Previn, 2016, courtesy of simonandschuster.com.
Kids who love playing in the snow—and for whom snowflakes are a delicacy—will delight in curling up with cup of hot chocolate and enjoying the sweet ideas and fanciful humor in this cozy wintertime book. Its sure to inspire kids to think up their own taste comparisons.
Ages 3 – 8
little bee books, 2016 | ISBN 978-1499801804
Discover more about Stacey Previn and her books on her website!
Make Cut-Out Snowflakes Day Activity
Fantastic Paper Snowflakes!
You can create beautiful snowflakes with these printable snowflake templates. With a little color or glitter, you can make each snowflake one-of-a-kind! Here are two to start you off. You can find more templates at firstpalette.com.
Picture Book Review
celebratepicturebooks.com 