Weather Books

If you are fascinated by the sheer destructive power of Mother Nature, you'll love this book. If you live on the East Coast of North America, and ever worried about hurricanes or Nor'easters, this should answer some of your questions. If you live in New Jersey and remember The Great Atlantic Storm of 1962, this is a book you have to buy.

A comprehensive coverage of the small portion of the Atlantic Coast, 180 miles of New Jersey beaches, the authors first impart some knowledge of the causality of Hurricanes and winter storms. They do a great job explaining those vague terms the television weatherpeople throw around, such as the Beaufort scale and wind forces. Then the tales begin to unfold.

Starting with the 1700's, the authors have researched every major storm and hurricane that has brushed into -- or rolled flat -- the New Jersey coast. In addition to anecdotes and quotes from New Jersey, Philadelphia and New York area newspapers, the book is loaded with photos of storms and their aftermath starting from the 1890's. There's an entire chapter on the hurricane of 1944, which wreaked havoc on New York City as well as New Jersey. Another chapter is devoted to the Great Atlantic Storm of 1962. Caused by two major storms colliding and stalling off the New Jersey coast for three days. The storm sent five storm surge high tides ashore -- each one deeper and higher and further than the last -- until Long Beach Island, a barrier island resort, was cut through in four places.

Reading this book was quite entertaining and informative; more than that, it taught me one big lesson: there's no such thing as evacuating TOO SOON when a hurricane is coming.

Is the Halloween Storm of 1991, Nor'easter of 1992 and the Superstorm '93 in it?

If you live in New Jersey--as I do. If you have relatives who live near the Jersey Shore--as I do. If you love meteorology and disaster stories--as I do. Then you will be fascinated by this book. It starts in colonial times and works it's way to the present and even predicts the future. What more could you want?

Well maybe a few more widely differentiated anecdotes--many end up sounding the same.

Maybe, a few more pithy quotes from contemporary newspapers and other media.

Maybe a better explanation of extra-tropical cyclones and how they form. These are the great scourge of the Northeastern coast and make up a majority of this history. You just don't hear as much about Nor'easters because they don't have names.

Maybe a bit more on how the Jersey shore prepares and deals with these monsters of the deep. A frank and wide-ranging discussion on whether our shore-management policies and techniques are futile would not be very popular, but very useful.

The best features of this book intertwine. It's long range history treats the great hurricane of 1821 (the last hurricane whose eye contacted and tracked on shore)which of course is outside of the memory of living society. The book closes with an account of an imaginary hurricane doing much the same in the near future. We need to remember our past to be prepared for the future. What happened once can very well happen again. The 1821 hurricane roughly followed the current route of the Garden State Parkway. I rarely travel that toll road without remembering that we may have a very big payment to make someday.

In March of 1962, my father drove us down to Atlantic City to visit my grandmother and see the damage. It made an indelible impression on me. I cannot drive the Jersey coast without wondering how much of the ugly, new beachfront development will survive a great Jersey storm. Like many other shore lovers, I secretly hope not much of it will.

The most hair-raising tales in this wonderful book are from that 1962 whopper. But these great storms have hit Jersey shores throughout the ages with regularity, with & without warning, everywhere on the coast, changing the coastline & serving important ecological purposes. Even Keansburg, a bayshore town, has been knocked flat.

So enjoy the stories & eye-popping photographs. But don't overlook the other message the authors are conveying: We build castles on the sand.

A semi-coffeetable size book, this is a history of all the major storms that have wreaked havoc along the Jersey shore, with special emphasis on the 1944 hurricane and the 1962 nor'easter, both of which did tremendous damage. The '62 storm lasted 3 days - 6 tides - which seemed relentless. The survey ends with a warning about the future: with all the recent development along the shore and a major storm overdue, a nightmarish disaster is bound to occur sooner or later. (The last time a hurricane made landfall in New Jersey was in 1903 at Brigantine.) Filled with fantastic photographs.

Dare i say that this book was healing? We used to live in Lakeview- our home was smashed due to the "catastrophic" levee failures. I love the way Dr Van Heerden takes the reader on his personal journey in dealing with this horrible time in our lives. His conclusions and restoration proposals sound so complete; by-and-large, a recipe for the saving of the Louisiana coast. I really want to hear the evidence trying to disprove this very knowledgeable and passionate scientist. If you were affected by "the storm," read this book and pass it on to others. If you are a politician, an employee of the C.O.E or an engineer working on saving Louisiana, swallow the bitterness and embrace his ideas. If nothing else, write him a note and let him know how and why you disagree.

Katrina is two words, "Cry Wolf".... We were all weary from years of leaving our homes and that is the only reason we stayed. Katrina was just another Cry Wolf Scenario and too much bother to go through! For What? Nothing ever happens! We would not have stayed to die! Think about it!

Good description of what happened during Katrina and the causes of it. However, it is a first person narrative with a bit of self-congratulation embedded throughout (which is kind of annoying).

I am a New Orleanian. I was there, I know the details, and I know this writer has a lot to teach about disasters and personal responsibility to the community. He's a good guy who a lot of politicians tried to gag.
The book does a lot of CYA- people who knew what they were doing during Katrina have taken a lot of bludgeoning from fools. Mostly fools in politics and the Corps of Engineers- who caused the whole damn New Orleans disaster through sheer idiocy.
Rad this book and weep, for us, for yourselves. Where ever you live, there's the same incompetance waiting to fail you.

Let me first start by explaining that Ivor Van Heerden is my step father, and Mike Bryan is my good friend. During the months in which this book was written, my family was not only dealing with the aftermath of Katrina, but the effects of someone with such huge ideas and opinions trying to fit them into a few hundred pages. The amount of time and dedication that went into this book alone was enough to encourage me to read it, but once i did i realized that it's positively genius. The detailes he goes into just to make sure the readers can understand what he is about to discuss definitly sets him apart from other katrina authors. And Mike Bryan's years of writing experience really bring eveything together in this book. All in all I have to say that this book is definitly worth your time, if you want to understand the big picture behind katrina, as well as the things not many people knew at the time.

For a relatively small number of Americans each year a tornado will threaten life and result in a life-changing loss of possessions and property. A greater number will observe the phenomenon but, as luck would have it, remain scared but unscathed. However to the vast majority a tornado is nothing more than a compelling news item on television which highlights the casualties, personal losses and structural damage. This is reinforced by the compulsory 30 second sound bite by someone who has lost everything but survived and another who lived nearby but remains intact. The video from the chasers is breath taking but accompanied by the standard script of 'Oh my god...Oh my god...guys...Holey crap...guys...'

As I write this (May 2008) the tornados currently in Oklahoma have all of these elements. So far this year America has had 103 tornado deaths and this is alarming.

Grazulis has written with a wonderful balance of narrative and scientific text. A reader is drawn through the chapters and will come away better informed on tornados, their cause, observation, classification, magnitude and probability. The relatively small probability of any one person or any one building being struck in any year seems to be a risk acceptable to this conditioned society and to the insurance industry. The declining trend in the number of fatalities is attributed to improving meteorology, warning systems and improving design of structures. There is however a hint those tornados could become more frequent and severe with climate change.

Tornados are now better understood because of Grazulis.

Perhaps the book will be the catalyst that motivates scientists, engineers, architects and urban planners to come together to build improved structures and communities so as to better resist the destructive forces of tornados. Otherwise it seems that society will continue to believe that a tornado is an irresistible force. I promote the idea of engineering-out the likelihood of devastating loss. Perhaps we can diminish the likelihood of Americans following Dorothy and Toto to the Land of Oz.

Since there's a lot of science going on behind tornado occurances -many myths have developed since the phenomena is so scary & hard to explain

Thomas P. Grazillus manages to do just that in this book - explain the science behind the tornado so the average joe could undertand it, while explaining the truth about myths, while trying to understand where these myths have risen from.

From the intorduction, you read that the author's intent with this book was to write a modernized edition of Snowden D. Flora's 1953 book "Tornadoes of the United States" -- which was billed at the time as the first general reference book on tornadoes. In that respect, Tom Grazulis has fully succeeded.

"The Tornado" covers all the basics about tornadoes, like the highly complicated (and still enigmatic) process of tornado formation, forecasting, historical aspects of tornadoes -- as well as major tornadic events of the past, safety, climatology/frequncy, international frequency and major events, the Fujita scale, myths (more than you might think), and a pleasingly non-sensational chapter on storm chasing.

The text is never too complicated, and even the more technical points are easy to understand. The fact that the book is up-to-date is also a plus, as is the scope of the book's coverage. It's also somewhat more relevant to an American audience than Arjen and Jerrine Verkaik's "Under the Whirlwind," which -- though good, and including some of what this book covers -- was written with a Canadian audience in mind. (In which case Canadian readers are advised to read that book before this.)

About the only real minus is that there are limited illustrations, and those in the book are black and white. This text accompanied with more -- and color -- illustrations might have been more useful, although in moderation so as not to draw attention away from the text; at any rate a section of color plates would have been a nice addition.

That aside, this is a terrific guide to all things relevant (or even just the stuff you might have thought of once!) to tornadoes.

I wanted a book for by granddaughter who is 10 and who had expressed an interested in tornadoes. It was, perhaps, a little above her level, however it can be read in parts. I ended up reading the entire thing before I could let go of it to send it on. Puts the tornado,the incidence of seeing one, and the likelihood of experiencing damage all into perspective. Knocks down the myths of tornadoes, when, where and what they strike. A must for any library on meteorology. Sufficient statistics and hard science to satisfy even the already knowledgeable storm chaser.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in tornadoes and wishing to learn more about the subject. Topics covered include nearly every aspect of tornado development and subsequent evolution, forecasting and warnings, the Fujita scale for rating damage, and tornado risks by geographical region. As a meteorologist, I think he does a great job communicating core scientific concepts to the reader in an easy-to-understand manner, and the chapters "Tornado Myths" and "Tornado Safety" contain valuable information and are must-reads, esp. for those less familiar with severe storms/tornadoes.

In short, a good read for anyone interested in tornadoes, and definitely a book you will want to have on your shelf.

Well written and illustrated. The author clearly loves his subject and shares his enthusiasm with the reader.

I do not understand these favorable reviews. This book is terribly disorganized. It jumps from subject to subject and does not teach or explain weather systems in an understandable manner. Though it is filled with fun facts and sidebars, it does not lay down fundamentals and then build on these fundamentals, which is the basis of any scientific text. Unfortunately I have not found a better laymen's text on weather and weather systems.

This book was very user friendly w/many photographs for illustration purpose. Two thumbs way up for this awesome book!

If you have ever wanted to learn the how's and why's of weather, this is the book for you. You will understand everything you need to know about how storms form, highs and lows, jet stream, usa weather patterns, coriolis effect, thunderstorms, lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes, wind, and so on. This book is very easy to read and understand and has excellent graphics for helping you to see what is being written about. There are college courses that use this book as their textbook (DU Forecasting and Meteorology). I have used this book to help me in teaching 9th grade Meteorology.

First of all, let me say that I normally think of the U.S.A. Today newspaper as a cheap news sources that only should be read if desperate for reading material at the airport. With that said, I will say they do have excellent graphics for explaining weather events and that has transerred to this book. I teach a university weather/climate course and use the figures frequently, they are much better than any other text. Plus, they provide explanations that deviate from the jargon I had hammered into my head during my academic past.

The Big Snow takes you through what animals go through when winter comes. The author of this book really showed his emotions on the pictures if you ask me. This book is great. You should read this book. The winter is very harsh and if not for two people they would have died. Will the animals be ready for winter?

I attend West Virginia State College and I am taking a children's literature class this summer. The book teaches how animal survive in the winter. The pictures are beautiful and very realistic.

This story takes you through the process of woodland creatures as they prepare for a cold winter season. The animals notice the geese flying south and the leaves are beginning to fall from the trees which could only indicate one thing for them, winter is coming. The animals gather food, and build warm homes to cozy up in when the snow comes in.
This story is great for kindergarten children. The pictures are colorful and the text gives a great lesson in nature and how it works. Discussing what each animal would do to prepare for cold weather would be a fun activity to follow the reading of this book.

The story follows a linear plot. The animals begin to notice winter is coming and that certain things need to be done before winter arrives. The story tells the reader which animals can survive a cold winter and which ones hibernate. The story then peaks with "The Big Snow" itself and then travels back into the spring season. This is one of my personal favorites. I've read this book several times to my own children and my students. Coming from a state, Michigan, that has all experiences all four seasons also, this story brings back memories of my own childhood and the scenes of wildlife in preparation for winter and the feeding of deers, birds, rabbits, etc. The story is very strong in the sequence of events from season to season and the signs of the changing season.
Math - Sequence of events, number of month in a year, seasons. Science - Region study of weather, animal hiberation techniques, winter survival, how snow is made and maybe a habitat study. Social Studies - Regions and their seasons, map skills, topography,
Art - Snow pictures, animals, forest homes,

By and large (and I'm sorry people, but this really is the truth) picture books from the 1940s are either dull, offensive, or dull AND offensive. Not so "The Big Snow". A delicate little Caldecott winner, the tale told is not particularly new or deep. But it's a charmer, no question about it.

The story follows various woodland creatures as they prepare for the winter months ahead. Though a couple birds fly south and several mammals prepare their burrows, the majority of furry folk decide they won't have to worry about making it through the winter. When a huge snowfall occurs, however, it takes the kind ministrations of two snow-suited humans to feed the hungry animals.

As a story, it's fine. Nothing particularly good or bad about it. Gardeners reading this tale will cringe inwardly when they hear a mama rabbit (suspiciously named "Mrs. Cottontail") instructing her child to eat the cabbage and carrots in the garden. Similarly, the meadow mouse that lives in tunnels that "led to sweet plant roots and to the tulip bulbs in the garden" may seem cute but explain that to the men and women who sweat and strained to plant those bulbs in the first place.

It's the illustrations that really give this book a life of its own. Each little furry or winged animal is rendered realistically without sacrificing any adorableness. The baby rabbit munching on carrot tops comes particularly to mind. Black and white pen and ink drawings (or perhaps they're pencil...) contrast nicely with full page color spreads. This heightens the tension in the scenes. The first glance of the countryside bathed in heaps of snowfall is a color shoot. Likewise, the scrambling of the animals to eat the breadcrumbs spread by the nice human couple. On the other hand, scenes of the field mice dancing in the silvery light of the moon are charmingly rendered. They are undoubtedly the best thing in the book. And the humans here are well drawn. Sometimes artists that know their ways around animals have a very difficult time drawing people. Not so here. In fact the book flap informs us that Mr. and Mrs. Hader (the authors) purposefully made the humans themselves. In fact, there's a charming shot of the two of them, snow shovels in hand, on the copyright page.

If you live in a climate where an abundance of snow is a regular wintertime occurrence (paging Minnesota), kids will like seeing what the animals of the woods do. If you live in a temperate climate with balmy breezes and mild winters (paging Arizona) you may find the children who read this fascinated by the myriad of different ways snow can affects creatures from all walks of life. This is a beautiful story, lovingly rendered. Enjoy at your leisure.

Ever since I was a child trapped inside by the pouring rain as the remnants of Camille passed over East Tennessee, I have been fascinated by hurricanes. With that in mind, this book was hard to resist. Especially since I had spent many hours watching Dr. Sheets on television. It is pretty obvious though that Jack Williams did most of the writing and for those of us who are not that familiar with the science of meteorology that is a very good thing for this is a very complicated subject and dumbing down is exactly what I needed.

This book is not so much a book about major hurricanes as it is a history of the predicting of hurricanes. From Columbus to the present satellites and Doppler systems this book tells the story of man's attempts to guess what Mother Nature is up to. There is even a chapter about attempts to actually control hurricanes.

Even with the simple way the authors attempted to tell their story I was lost at times but not all too often. For a trained meteorologist this book would probably seem almost childish, but for the average person like myself it is just about right. I still don't completely understand everything about wind sheer, computer models, and latent heat but I am at least familiar with the terms now. From now on, as a hurricane approaches the U.S. coast and I sit there in front of the TV I will have a vague idea of how the computer models work and will know all about the Bermuda high.

The chapter I found the most interesting was the chapter about hurricane Andrew. That is the kind of thing I was actually looking for in this book but even though I only found one chapter of what I had been looking for, I still found this book to be highly informative, interesting, and well written. I imagine that Dr. Sheets could write an entire book on Andrew, and I wish he would

"Hurricane Watch Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth" was an excellent book. It had many great facts on hurricanes in it. It gave me more understanding on hurricanes and how they start. This book is very helpful if you are studying meteorology. This book is written by Dr. Bob Sheets former director of the National Hurricane Center. He was in charge of predicting the tracks of hurricanes and sending out warnings to the people of the communities where the hurricane will hit. The book goes through the history on predicting hurricanes. It starts with Christopher Columbus and ends with hurricane Andrew. Since it is a sort of old book some of the "New technology" in the book is out dated. Also it does not have anything about the strong hurricanes of today. I recommend this book for anybody who likes to learn about the history of hurricanes. The book had facts on the history of hurricanes. The book was interesting in many places but had some boring spots. Also the book talked about people flying planes into hurricanes for reconnaissance. It had the history of the reconnaissance planes starting from World War 2 to now. The book was a fairly long book. The end of the book had appendices that had facts from hurricanes in the past. It also has a list of all of the hurricanes from 2001 to 2006. In some parts of the book I could not put it down but in other parts it was boring. The book had many great pictures. Some pictures were about what happened after they hit and others were about radar and what the hurricanes looked like from above. If you like meteorology and hurricanes this book is for you. Also if you need to do some research on hurricanes I would recommend this book to you.

This book is like a Colombo murder mystery. You know "who did it," it's just will he or she be caught in time. The answer to the question, in this case, is "no."

Dr Sheet's book is a very thorough commentary on the history and study of hurricanes. He provides the reader with an interesting background narrative of hurricanes and their destructiveness that dates from the early experiences of Spanish explorers and early European settlers in the Caribbean, the east and southeast coasts of the US and Canada. He also discusses the typhoon or cyclone in the Pacific and the odd phenomenon that dictates that when there are more of these, there are fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic. He also covers the North Atlantic Oscillation and El Niño, though to a lesser degree than Brian Fagan did in one of his weather/climate discussions. Of far greater historical interest-to me anyway-is his discussion of the various personalities involved in researching hurricanes. It's surprising how much solid study was conducted as early as the 19th century.

The author also describes the big name hurricanes. Probably the best is his own experience of Hurricane Andrew in Florida. The story is riveting, especially when, having lived through a very precarious situation himself, he expresses concern over the very real possibility that the storm might move on into the Gulf of Mexico and hit New Orleans. The book was written in the late 1990s, but he is able to thoroughly describe the potential destruction should a hurricane hit the city in full force. As we know, Andrew did not move into the New Orleans area, but Katrina did. The outcome was much as the author had predicted. With so much foresight, it makes one wonder why authorities could have been so lax in taking precautions. It was, in fact, much as many had already said, a case of "not if, but when."

The answer seems to reside in that peculiar sense of probability that dictates that "if it didn't happen in my grandfather's time, and it didn't happen in my father's time, it won't happen mine." Human experience of climate is actually the experience of weather, a relatively short-term phenomenon. While the human life span seems quite long compared to other types of animal, it's infinitesimally short compared to the age of the earth, which is the time frame of climate. It's this grander scale of climatic change that makes the discussions over global warming so contentious, and the appropriate actions to be taken the subject of feud. Everyone has his or her own opinion, and the fact is that we really don't know. The author makes this point when he discusses the possibility that there will be more frequent and more destructive storms with the advent of global warming. Here too, they don't know, but the author is inclined to doubt it. That there will be storms as destructive as Andrew he accepts; that they will be more costly he agrees. But he feels that the latter will be due more to the increasing population of the areas subject to these storms and the unpreparedness of new comers in the face of a phenomenon with which they have no experience.

What is amazing to me is that the areas subject to a force of nature as fierce as a hurricane continue to grow in population and that building continues to be substandard, at least under the circumstances, but then the San Andreas fault system is heavily settled with buildings far too fragile to survive another 1906-style earthquake and the fertile flanks of Vesuvius lure farmers to them irrespective of its reputation for death and destruction. The human capacity to ignore what "might" happen looms ever optimistic.

I was in the middle of reading this book when Hurricane Katrina started heading toward us here in Louisiana. While everyone else was talking about the hurricane and its projected path, I was able to understand exactly what the forecasters were talking about. This book explains the dynamics of a hurricane very well - how, where and why they form, and an explanation of the weather phenomena that forecasters (and forecasting models) use to project its path.

One thing this book has made me realize is that weather is an imperfect science. It seems many people think forecasters are pointless because they're often wrong, but what they don't realize is that there is a LOT we don't know about weather. And we're a lot better off knowing what we know today! It is also strange to continue reading this after Katrina, because there is mention of intense, deadly hurricanes throughout history - and Katrina has really set a new precedent (Rewrite? Heck, I'd buy a 2nd edition!). This is a book that calls for a re-reading anyway. It is so jam-packed with interesting information. There are many explanations of weather phenomena that I had to read several times over because I'm not a scientifically-minded person. This book explains things very well - but I find that with weather-talk, it helps to have diagrams. Unfortunately, this book has very few (in fact, looking through, I can only find one diagram).

This book has excellent appendices! --> A list of hurricane names (2001-06), retired hurricane names. The hurricane probabilities chart is particularly fascinating - it lists names of Atlantic/Gulf coast cities and the probabilities of a hurricane/major hurricane hitting within a given year (Miami/Ft Lauderdale appear to be the two most vulnerable areas). Strongest hurricanes, most deadly hurricanes, most expensive hurricanes (including what past hurricanes would cost today). A glossary of forecasting models. A separate glossary of hurricane terminology. All excellent additions to this book!!

If you are reading this review, it means you're interested in hurricane books. And if that's the case, you NEED to read this one! - especially if you don't know much about the dynamics of hurricanes. (and if you live on either the Atlantic or Gulf coast)

Dr. Bob Sheets is a previous director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Jack Williams helped found the USA TODAY Weather Page. Together these two well respected men combine their unique talents, introspection , scientific facts with intriguing anecdotal tales. The result may well be one of the ultimate books about hurricanes from their formation to the evolution of man's ability to understand and predict their path and power. They blend the lines of scientific fact and human experience yielding an accessible guide to a more in-depth understanding of hurricanes. The book covers the early days of meteorology, when it was perceived as almost a mythical ability to the more current up to the moment technological advances at the forefront of climatology and prediction. Also included are tables listing the deadliest hurricanes, strongest hurricanes and costliest storms. The Saffir-Simpson scale is explained and laid out along with a table detailing the strike possibilities by region. There is a section that deals with the computer models utilized by the National Hurricane Center, both the statistical and dynamic forecast models, from CLIPER to SHIPS, from GFDL to NOGAPS. Each model is detailed and it's purpose and focus are explained.
Finally there is the most important section, on how to prepare for a hurricane, from things to do before you buy or build your home, preparing ahead of time for hurricane season and what to do from the time a watch is issued, the hurricane arrives and after the hurricane has passed. This book is a wealth of information for those whose lives may depend upon an understanding of hurricane predictions and the ability to prepare themselves and their families for the possible onslaught of the hurricane season.

Most of us worry about some things - maybe many things. I tend towards believing that everything will work out just fine, especially the little details of life. So when I began reading this book, I wasn't sure it was going to provide what I thought I needed. I did find it very helpful as I discovered many areas that I do worry about, and I learned new ways to trust the Lord for the little things and the big things. Then - when I got to Chapter 8, I was punched in the heart. Chapter 8 is entitled "Rain Behind You - How the Past Can Cloud the Present." I found this chapter extremely helpful. It challenged me to complete the forgiveness process on old wounds, and to live today with healing and joy. I do not want to be held captive to the past, holding onto resentments, and punishing others for the circumstances that are long over. The book was helpful in getting me to this point. If you are a worrier, you need this book!

PARTLY CLOUDY WITH SCATTERED WORRIES
Finding peace in all kinds of weather

Have you excused your worry under the guise of concern or parental love or something else? I have. This book shoved my rationalizations right out from under me. My worry changes nothing.

If the gas tank is low, my worry doesn't put more gas in the car and stressing out just makes things difficult for everyone in the car. This situation happened as I was reading this book. Miller's clear presentation got through to me in a way that nothing has ever done before. This time ... Read complete review at AUTHOR'S CHOICE REVIEWS http://come.to/bookreviews.

The author writes that worry does not communicate love, can't change others, can't CONTROL a situation or person...and ultimately implies that God isn't trustworthy. By offering biblical wisdom and practical helps, Partly Cloudy helps those who let life overwhelm them with the worries of life. I highly recommend it!

Does worry's rain ruin your life's parade? Then you must read Kathy Collard Miller's book Partly Cloudy with Scattered Worries. She lets you know that like the weather, worries will come and go but God's word will remain. So, if you are a worry wart or if you know one, get out your umbrella and feel God's power drench you with the rain of His love!

In Partly Cloudy with Scattered Worries Kathy Collard Miller takes the approach of relating worries with weather. This was a unique and fun concept because weather is a topic that brings much worry all in itself.

Some of the chapter titles include:

Dense Fog Predicted - Is it Fear, Careful Thought or Worry?

Anticipating a Storm: What you Fear May Be the Greatest Blessing

Catching the Rainbow: How Prayer Alleviates Worry

Ice Storm: How to Keep Worry From Slipping Into Controlling Others

Rain Behind You: How the Past Can Cloud the Present

After reading through the various chapters, readers will recognize or discover the various forms worry can appear. Worry can be really obvious or very subtle!

Kathy provides her personal stories throughout the book. The personable approach lets readers know that Kathy knows and understands the effects of worry. This book is written mainly for women as at the end of each chapter Kathy includes a teaching about a particular woman in the bible. There are discussion questions at the end of each chapter for individual or group purposes. In one chapter, Kathy focuses on how prayer is a key to avoid worrying. Prayer gives us an opportunity to communicate our fears with God. At the end of each chapter, Kathy includes a special "Letter from God" that communicates God's love for us and His desire that we cast our burdens on Him who cares for us.

I have family and friends who are worry warts. It's interesting what you may often see in other people you don't necessarily recognize in yourself. After reading this book, I discovered I had a tendency to be a worrier myself. This eye-opening book is highly recommended for worry warts and for those who "think" they are not worriers.
--Tyora Moody

I use this book every year in my preschool art classes. The images are just wonderful. The kids always love to figure out what the "snowthings" are made out of. It's a little bit of hide and seek before they get to working on wonderful art of their own. The story is simple and a quick read, but the pictures can be captivating.

I'm a preschool teacher and this book has become a regular part of our classroom curriculum--we had to replace our old copy as it had become ragged with use. We use it during the winter months to begin conversations about the season, but we also love the way it elicits discussion about creativity, part and whole, different uses for everyday objects and even family. It's a beautiful book.

My grandaugther who is two, just loved me reading this book to her. The pictures really kept her attention, they are so bright! Great book!!

Children's books seem like they are a dime a dozen. I paid no attention to children's books in the past, but with my two little girls, I notice them more than before, and one thing I have quickly discovered is that, in many instances, there is very little to distinguish one from the other. This is why I am ever so grateful when I discover a book that has something unique to offer. And Snowballs is certainly one such book; offering illustrations and dialogue that sets it apart from other children's books.

Many things about this book make it worthwhile and one of the things I like is the creative dialogue. There aren't a large number of words, no. But I like the way the author starts out talking about birds and how they are often very scarce when snow starts to fall. This may not seem like a big deal, but it shows that this author wanted to make the book a little more creative than the usual children's book.

The words in this book are kept to a minimum, like they are in most children's books, but they are still effective and they state just enough to hold the attention of most youngsters. However, the best aspect of this book isn't the words- it's the drawings. What makes the illustrations so different from other children's books isn't necessarily the colorfulness of the illustrations, although the colors are memorable. What makes the pictures stand out in a crowd is the fact that they combine real pictures with drawings. For example, in the opening pages when the book is talking about birds, it is depicting pieces of popcorn, peanuts, bird seed, etc., in actual photos- not just drawings. These are superimposed on top of drawings of the snow family. Even the snow family shows actual items, like scarves, bows, leaves, twigs, and other things, giving the pictures a very realistic appearance.

Overall, Snowballs is a very good children's book about snowfall and family. We won't be seeing any of the white, fluffy flakes falling from the sky in my neck of the woods (Gulf Coast). But we will be enjoying books like Snowballs- books that enthrall children with their well- illustrated pages and their emphasis on family.

Friday I shared this book in my 1st grade classroom by Lois Ehlert called Snowballs. It is filled with collage snow people moms and dads and babies and cats and dogs all made with found objects.


Inquiry and observation are cornerstones in the process of making art with children.And in working with students as they develop the skills in the learning process these skills are the all of it.

Many miss that art may be good for children in a world of domains (too often just stated as a "feel good" experience), but in teaching them how to look at something in a new way, how to look to "see," how to develop an eye and observe characteristics and deduce meaning, these are foundational art principles. And interestingly the foundations of other aspects of learning. You move from "this to this" as a practical "way" of speaking in the process of the birth of an idea into an "art" construct. Well, as it happens first graders need quite a bit built in their mental tool kit so they too can apply skills and ideas ( observations) from one context into use or conclusions or suggestions in another. My class, especially so as they presently view learning too much as a "get told and execute this as shown" process, have almost a nil application of a skill set into a new or varied experience. Or so it has seemed.
So I'm using art to build capacities. And build a platform upon which we can "talk" to this together. And that "language" of art is why it needs to be understood more articulately and broadly for the power it brings to teaching, learning and the classroom.

It should be then no surprise to someone that works with children that the genius of Lois Elhert is to use collage and re-use, re-framing, reorganization as tools to speak through art pieces constructed in the medium about seasons( here snowmen), about how if I say a piece of corn is a mouth it's now a mouth. It really is Duchamp 101. And since he invented and used this medium to do exactly this, we need to pay a bit of attention to the mind of this children's book artist as she creates a platform upon which on many levels to teach observation, inquiry, science, art to children. And to watch her send them right into "doing something" and seeing what happens and "looking". Genius really, to be redundant.

It should come as no surprise also that her book, Snowballs, is directly instructing children in "found art" art (foundation 101). And talking of building a representation of a snowman, which is in an of itself a representation of man acting on the natural world creating an image of himself.
That's a foundational piece too. Of story, literature, myth and belief. We as man, act on our world to tell of self. It is the "story."
It could be argued that what she is really doing is teaching you, the child, what the purposes of art can be. First literal, making a snowperson, then to teach form and structure, to talk of materials, to train a child in taking a thing from one context into another, for teaching a child that here and now I APPLY MEANINGS. And they cause me to look in a new way and in a way searching for metaphorical construction. Very good. Very good, indeed.

And this is no small stuff, it is the transference of aesthetics to a young mind. It is an appreciation for the steps gained in the 20th century in art. What this book does so simply and so well is guide a child through the observational process into the process of deconstruction and into vision.

No small winter day.

Ehlert in her children's works visits many wondrous things with vivid color and bold work. We see in other works life cycles of butterflies(change), gardens, seasons, and in each of her works brings so much integrity and sheer art power that it becomes a piece that one can build a teaching unit around the depth. It suggests follow up work, a "let's go do that," her work gets you out planting bulbs, buying a butterfly chrysalis, making art, collecting, she is motivating both teacher, parent, child to actions. Actions that have you up collecting nuts, berries, pieces of rice to connect and create, here in the form of snowmen. And we find a way through this to introduce the science, observation, the material knowledge, the kinesthetic so necessary for meaning making. All of a sudden off the pages and into mind and actions. Actions binding us to the beauty of observing birds and their habitats, asking questions, inquiry into what we see.
In my work as a first grade teacher after reading we wrote what we needed to "know" about snowmen and as it happens a great many of those questions are still the work of scientists right now. Not the funny ones like "Can they really come to life?" But my favorite is "Are all snowflakes the same?" "What temperature causes them to melt?" "Why can a sunny day be so cold?"
Things that make us think and need us to go do some "research."

So again her book Snowballs starts with a question, that should be no surprise.
It is a question framed very much like Holden Caufield asking where ducks go in winter, it asks how they find their food...under a blanket of snow which in turns suggests protection, empathy, what we might do to help them. A very subtle push towards our role as stewards of the earth....or perhaps just a reminder of how nature is rather without that. Many die.


An art teacher of mine once said, "There is no meaning unless you started with a question."
And continued to talk of the internal questions that spring forward all through the making, trying, reassessing, reasking. And becoming comfortable with "process".
(And at that time having no real question I looked up thinking, uh oh and put my picture slowly away...)
And from this process the children travel in the book into the collages of snow people and pets all constructed from various found objects. By recess my class had plastic bags in hand (recycled) and were out looking for things to use in making their snow people.

Each clever piece in the book they spent so long observing too to "see" every thing used.
"Oh, teacher his eyes are screws."
But actually they were nuts so we also were developing vocabulary for the things, looking, seeing how she found the shape of unrelated objects to suggest snowpeople parts. And that's one level the book worked so well.

On another level my 1st grade class of Sheltered Immersion students in South Oxnard at Hathaway who have never seen snow were trying to understand snow and it's properties.
And boy how play does allow us to explore. You take it for granted. I'm so aware with kids that are not living where they experience snow, and rain very infrequently
They were developing their language, making artist awarenesses, coaxing me into a project (I'm already planning-motivation -from them) getting us warmed up ( or frozen) and ready to try their own versions, adapting it to our needs. Suddenly the rest of the day isn't just as "always" it's a day to see things around our space and collect to use again. The trash never looked so good.

Because the book is so beautifully constructed with colors chosen in palates, there is work on those sensibilities and design sensibilities that are not here explicitly spoken, there woven into an aesthetic experiential base. And I can point this out...."look at how this was chosen".......lovely. The photos are terrific.
My class will be constructing snow people next week and I'll augment their found things with buttons, sequins and "junk" as we create snow people in our own images just as we know the creation from this place has occurred from the beginning of recorded time.

A lovely book for a wintry day.

This book has terrific color shots of many different kinds of clouds and skies. It's an amazing book for using as an art reference and pretty much covers every kind of cloud you can imagine.

For many years, I lived in the beautiful state of Texas, with wide open skies wherever you'd look. After moving to a large city in an eastern state, suddenly the sky became something I had to look hard to find. Skyscrappers tend to block the view. This book not only gives me my sky views back, it tells me just what I am looking at. Thank you for the beautiful photos.

This is the second copy I purchased in 2007. Will buy more for gifts in 2008.

I ordered this book for my father for Christmas and I had really hoped it would be something special. We have a sentimental love of clouds and I thought this book would be the perfect gift. I am also a photography student and, naturally, love great photographs. This book was a disappointment. It is cheaply made, and all the pictures are grainy. The cover looks beautiful from a distance, and that's about it.

I purchased this book to reference for my painting. I found the variety and quantity of photos great, however the quality of the photos is questionable. Most of them are grainy (an artistic treatment?) and some appear to be low res images scaled up to fit the format of the book. The paper and print quality could be better, but if you read it to learn about clouds it would suffice.

I'd recommend John Updike's "A Child's Calendar". Many readers associate Updike with his award-winning "Rabbit" series, which is not about cute little bunnies. Nevertheless, Updike scores big with this lovely collection of poems for children. Each month has a beautiful illustration and a timely poem.

Author of "Hobo Finds A Home", Editor,"Of A Predatory Heart"

A friend recommended this book for my grandbaby. What a beautiful second birthday gift for my lucky little girl. Most of us are familiar with John Updike. He is a contemporary, well known author from New England, Massachusetts to be exact. John Updike has written the poetry of each month. The poetry reaches into and grabs us all but particularly the child-the rhymes and rhythm so graceful. Trina Schart Hyman has drawn the illustrations. Trina Schart Hyman was from New Hampshire, right up the road from me. She was one of the most glorious illustrators and painters. It was not until Trina's daughter married a man of color that Trina realized her illustrations were all of white people. She has rectified that and these illustrations are magnificent.

This is May in New England- John Updike has written:
"New children may
go out of doors
Without their coats
to candy stores

The apple blossoms
and the pear
may float their blossoms
through the air."

Trina Schart Hyman has drawn a Vermont General Store with a sign that says Vermont Cheeses; Maple Products, Homestead Bacon- children are shopping in the store as we can see through the open doorway, a young boy is licking his ice cream on the steps as his dog watches hoping for a falling icy piece.

The rest of the book is similar- from January through December, a poem for each month and a beautiful vivid illustration to match. What child would not love this book- I love this book! Each month shows the change of season in New England- you can almost feel the leaves crinkle and the soft snow on your eyelids.

This children's book has won a Caldecott Honor. The front cover shows two children at the top of a big hill facing a little village. It is winter and they have a sled and and look like they are ready to go down... nnn the hill. This is a keeper book, one to be read over and over and loved by the child who owns it. Highly recommended. prisrob

I purchased this book for a child a few holidays ago, and before wrapping it I read every page to make sure it was appropriate. The reading transformed me. With each page I turned, I grew a little younger. The words and images peeled back the years, page after page, layer after layer. Memories rushed in of a younger self who looked at the world more intently and felt colors and images more deeply.

Reading Updike's words is like sitting on your loving grandmother's lap listening to her tales of days gone by. Gazing at the illustrations is even better--so much to see!

A week later I bought a copy for myself. Had to. I simply couldn't be without it anymore. I start each new month with a glance at what these two artists say about it, and with it comes a rush of childlike joy, appreciation and anticipation for what's to come. I've had the book for years, and never tire of it.

One caveat: If you didn't grow up in a four-season enviroment, the book might not have the same appeal for you. The images are very New England-based, specifically, Vermont and New Hampshire.

It would make a wonderful gift for any child, or adult for that matter. And I mean wonderful. The book is full of wonder.

A Child's Calendar, a Caldecott award winner, by John Updike is a specialized poetry book that includes twelve lyric poems each describing unique characteristics of each month in the year for children to gain meaning and understanding of each individual month. Eleven of the twelve poems are written in four and five stanzas. The twelfth poem is written in six stanzas. Each stanza is structured in quatrains, containing four lines with the rhyming occurring in only two of the lines. The rhyming occurs in lines two and four of each stanza. Illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman add visual images to help the children better understand some of the characteristics and activities occurring in each month.

I propose that we invent an entirely new category of children's literature. In my life I've had the pleasure of discovering, usually through complete accident, fabulous picture books that use poetry to convey seasons. Tasha Tudor's, "A Time To Keep" was the first of these and remains a favorite (if only because it is intricately tied into my own childhood). The second such book was Charlotte Zolotow's breathtaking, "Seasons: A Book of Poems". Words cannot convey how much I enjoyed that book. And now, lo and behold, I've found a third leg to this unlikely triumvirate. And who could have dreamed it would have sprung from the pen of writer extraordinaire John Updike? In "A Child's Calendar", Updike's 1965 poems have been given a lively update, all thanks to illustrator Trina Schart Hyman. The result is a book that truly embraces diversity, change, and how kids react to the natural ebb and flow of the seasons. It is one of the loveliest books for children I've ever had the pleasure to page through.

The book begins in January, and we meet a family of four. An interracial couple and their two sons live in the country, and sometimes the neighbor kids come by. The cold winter months freeze the earth so that, "The river is/ A frozen place/ Held still beneath/ The trees' black lace". With the arrival of spring, the family is out in the yard (with the toddler sometimes "helping" by plucking daffodils from the earth, bulbs and all) and "We still wear mittens/ Which we lose". Summer shows us various idyllic childhood scenes involving ponds to explore, roads to bike down, fireworks, and beachside adventures. Though, as Updike is quick to point out in August, "The trees are bored/With being green/ Some people leave/ The local scene". So autumn comes and school begins. There are costumes and changing leaves as, "Blue ghosts of smoke/ Float through the town". And then winter again and Christmas and a feeling of having gotten through quite an interesting year.

It is difficult not to admire the pictures in this book. Hyman has done an exquisite job. I've adored her work over the years (check out "The Fortune Tellers" by Lloyd Alexander, if you can) and this book is a great example of what she's capable of. Her watercolors capture the spirit of the outdoors as well as the comfort and coziness of staying within. I loved the pictures that accompanied January's poem. Outside the kids stare, with sleds in hand, at the small town and the momentous grey/pink sky above (as seen on the book's cover). The other picture is from inside the home. You can see where the boots, removed after stomping about outside, lay with semi-melted snow still scattered on the rug. Hyman especially gives a great deal of attention to her lighting. That way, a spring morning looks nothing like a summer evening or the winter holiday season at night. The book makes you want to pack up your things, buy a house in the middle of nowhere (possibly in Michigan), and live with your nearest and dearest with all the beauties of nature about you. It's a book that makes you yearn for a time and place you've never known.

And the poems. Ah, the poems. I don't think Mr. Updike needs me to compliment him any. He's already acquired his fair share of praise. So all I will say is that for those that love him, this book will not disappoint. For those who do not know him (or do not know him well), I'll just quote some lines of his describing November: "The stripped and shapely/ Maple grieves/ The loss of her/ Departed leaves. The ground is hard/ As hard as stone/ The year is old/ The birds are flown. And yet the world/ Nevertheless/ Displays a certain/ Loveliness - The beauty of/ The bone. Tall God/ Must see our souls/ This way, and nod".

So there we have it. One of the nicest additions to the world of seasonal poetry books (accompanied by watercolors) for children. Children will find themselves oddly soothed by the poems and pictures. Grown-ups will be mildly surprised to find themselves feeling the same way.