Staunton Star - Times - Published in the Interest of the Staunton Community for Over 143 Years

The Worden Public Library will host a children’s program on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 10 a.m. The featured book will be Ezra Jack Keats’ classic, The Snowy Day, the story of a small boy who explores the outdoors after a snowstorm. He builds a snowman, bangs snow off trees with a stick, makes snow angels, and wonders why the snowball he placed in his pocket is no longer there when he goes to sleep that night. Keats was one of the first children’s book illustrators to place African Americans in his books as main characters. In The Snowy Day, as in most of his books, Keats uses painted and cut paper to form his pictures. Children who attend the program will make snow prints using washable paint, snowflake cookie cutters, and construction paper.

Did you know that scientists have been able to make snow crystals in their labs? They can, using frozen water and electricity, although the results are not as beautiful as the real thing. These and other facts are found in The Snowflake: Winter’s Secret Beauty, by Kenneth Libbrecht. This book uses full-color magnified photos of snow crystals to show the great variety of designs that are possible in nature. Find out how snow crystals are formed and whether there really are no two snowflakes alike.