Over and Under the Snow
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me stage.
Why it fits Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me (for the kindergarten-ready set, between being read to and reading alone)
A skiing child glides over a secret kingdom of animals wintering under the snow. It reveals the hidden layer of the ordinary world - the essence of science. Quiet, lovely, and instantly re-read.
What makes it special
Messner's split-world premise — skiing over, animals wintering under — reveals the hidden layer in an ordinary landscape. Neal's muted, woodcut-feeling art keeps the secret kingdom believably cold and quiet. Children finish it and start wondering what else the visible world is hiding, which is science's actual on-switch.
From the publisher
Over the snow, the world is hushed and white, but under the snow is a secret world of squirrels and snowshoe hares, bears and bullfrogs, and many others who live outside in the woods during the…
About Kate Messner
Kate Messner taught middle school for fifteen years before writing full time; her fifty-plus books, including the Over and Under nature series, are built on real field research — she has tagged sharks and tracked wolves for her stories.
Also by this author: Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt · Over and Under the Pond · The Brilliant Deep
More from “True Stories, Big World”
This book is part of The Best Books for Beginning Readers: 30 Teacher Picks (Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.