Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Book Review: Martin MacGregor's Snowman by Lisa Broadie Cook

Also Published As: When Will It Snow?
Written by: Lisa Broadie Cook
Illustrated by: Adam McCauley
Publisher: Scholastic
Published Date: January 1, 2003
Source: Purchased
Ages: 4 - 8 years
Purchase: IndieBound | Scholastic 

Synopsis: How can a snowman fanatic build a snowman if there’s NO snow?

Martin MacGregor lives for building snowmen. All year long he sits and he waits and he dreams of deep snowdrifts and blinding blizzards. So what’s poor Martin to do when winter comes and there’s no snow?

Martin finds it hard to be patient, but he develops all sorts of alternate plans for building his snowmen. Unfortunately, his creative genius backfires every time, and he may still be grounded by the time next winter comes around!

While anxiously awaiting the arrival of snow, Martin MacGregor, who built the biggest snowman in the neighborhood last year, tries to build one with substitute materials.

It's so frustrating when the weather doesn't cooperate with the season. My kids have experienced a very snow-less winter and yes, we live in snow country. This story for us is, therefore, very timely. Martin doesn't want to wait for the snow to actually start because the previous year he built the biggest snowman ever. So he sets about trying different things -- making snowman marshmallows in hot chocolate, pouring flour on his baby sister, gluing cotton balls to his dog and even dressing himself in bubble bath bubbles.

As you can imagine, nothing works. And Martin has to learn the hardest lesson of all -- patience. And well, there's the small matter of also learning how a younger sibling will copy you. Don't worry, thisbook does have a happy ending. Eventually, weather does do what it's supposed to do. Seasonally speaking, that is. Perhaps it will do the same in our parts and I won't have to hear about how much my kids want to go sledding and skiing when there's no snow around.
I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~ Anna Quindlen

Good children's literature appeals not only to
the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.
~ Anonymous ~