Snow Sounds: An Onomatopoeic Story

by David A. Johnson

Sweep, crunch, swoosh, scrape ...All night long, snow falls silently, bringing forth a world blanketed in white-and a very noisy day.For at dawn's light, machine, man, and child begin to dig out: first the big highway grader and snowplow, then the smaller town plow, a father's snow blower, and a boy's shovel ...But will the streets get cleared in time?Spare poetry and elegant watercolor paintings cleverly bring to life this unique story of snow removal...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0618473106
• ISBN13: 9780618473106
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.4" x 11.7"
• Age Range: 4 to 7 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 2

Customer Reviews

Beautiful book

This book appeals to a wide age group of children. Important for a grandparent with limited room in the bookcase. It was given as a gift to a 1yr old, but 2 and 4 yr old grandkids got a kick out of it too. Nice way to introduce books to children with few words in their speaking vocabulary. Beautifully illustrated.

Beautiful...Longstanding Favorite of our Whole House!

My two-year-old son adores this book, my husband adores this book, I adore this book. It's been a favorite for a year now and gets read almost every night, sometimes two or three times. It's a completely lovely book and even when my son was just a year old, he easily "got" it - the storyline, sequence, sounds, etc. He loves to "read" it to us now.

I had to look up the word "Onomatopoeic"...

This book is beautifully illustrated by a fantastically talented artist and first-time children's book writer. Honestly, I have no idea why this book didn't win the Caldecott. It's a simple but wonderfully realized concept. There is no "story" in the conventional sense but rather the gorgeous images are accompanied by sounds: the SCRAPE of a shovel, the MEOW of a cat, the CRINKLE of wrapping paper. Positively lovely.

Wishing you joy in the morning

Your average American citizen lives his or her life in a state that is too often blissfully ignorant of the horrors that surround them. Each day they traipse unknowingly into the void, never suspecting that one day, when they least expect it, the unthinkable may happen. They may be required to (gasp shudder) locate a good onomatopoeic story. Oh, I know what you're saying. "It could never happen to me." "Other people get those kinds of requests." "I'm too young to have to worry about searching out the word `onomatopoeic' in a library's on-line catalog." Well fellow citizens, I tell you that unless you prepare for this most awful of occurrences you may someday find yourself seriously and undeniably onomatopoeicless. Fortunately, there is a solution. A solution in the form of one Mr. David A. Johnson. Though he has not yet found himself the proud owner of a household name, Mr. Johnson's work is instantly recognizable to one and all. Even if you are firmly convinced that you've never seen one of his illustrations, prepare to be corrected in this belief. As for his delightful "Snow Sounds: An Onomatopoeic Story", it's a real treat. Capturing perfectly the feel of cold winter mornings, the anticipation that leads to Christmas break, and the experience of having to leave a delightfully warm bed when not a speck of light comes from the sky, the book is a woolly winter gem. It's the 23rd of December, and a young boy sleeps soundly on a frosty snowy morning. Woken by his mom so that he'll get to school on time, we see both inside and outside the house. Outside, trucks salt, slush, and smoosh the snow on the roads, making it safe for travelers. Inside the boy goes through his morning ritual. These two narratives come together when the boy goes outside to shovel the house's walkway, just in time for the bus to arrive. He almost forgets a Christmas present inside (for his teacher or for himself?) but his mom manages to pass it to him just in time. Told entirely in sounds, everything from the crinkle of the present's wrapping paper to the chug of the snowblower comes to brilliant life when accompanied by Johnson's lively pictures. We would be amiss if we were to say that Mr. Johnson's book was the first of its kind. I took one little look at "Snow Sounds" and immediately was reminded of Lynn Rae Perkins' wonderful, "Snow Music", published years before she earned herself a Newbery Award. "Snow Music" is perhaps the number one onomatopoeic winter tale. From the whispered words "peth peth peth" that describe the sound of falling snowflakes to a truck salting the road, Perkins captured Midwestern winter to a tee. But Johnson's eastern Connecticut tale is just as snowy and devotes itself to a different kind of telling. While Perkins would include dialogue and even a kind of poetic turn here and there, Johnson sticks to his guns. It's onomatopoeic sound or nothing. Some of these make it infinitely clear that the author knows from whence

Beautiful fun book, perfect for wintertime. (or when missing wintertime)

Using only images and a few "sound words" (Onomatopoeia) bubbling up from the illustrations, Johnson conjures up the images and sounds associated with a snowstorm. (For example the sound of a snowplow outside scraping the streets, or the happy yawn of a little boy as he awakens and takes a peek outside.) Brilliant concept and it is executed perfectly with beautiful delicate pastel illustrations. (As to be expected, Johnson is a very talented illustrator.) So many memories of my own came to mind when reading (or should I say viewing and "hearing") this book. The trill of hearing a snowplow at night (and hoping it means a snow day the next morning.) immediately came to mind. This is a great book to read to any child (young or old) who enjoys winter or better, who is enjoying the first snowstorm of the year!