Pink Snow and Other Weird Weather

This book presents a weird weather occurance and then describe how it happened. It could be used to develop inferences.

• Author: Jennifer Dussling
• Illustrator: Heidi Petach
• Year Published: 1998
• ISBN: 0-448-41887-8

Science Topics

• Earth Science

Minimum Suggested Grade Level

• 1st Grade

Maximum Suggested Grade Level

• 3rd Grade

Summary

This book discusses weird weather and why they happen. The author talks about pink snow, raining frogs in France, and raining jellyfish in England. They talk about tornados and their weird directions they can go in, and one town that got hit by a tornado three years in a row. They discussed lighting strikes, giant snowflakes, and hail falling with a frozen turtle inside. They also talk about how a volcanic eruption caused crazy cold weather for years.

Evaluation

• Appropriateness: High
• Authority: Low
• Accuracy: Medium
• Liteary Artistry: Medium
• Appearance: Medium

Questions

Does the book foster development of processes?

This book presents a weird weather occurance and then describe how it happened. It could be used to develop inferences.

Does the book provide an opportunity for children to ask and answer their own questions?

Yes, because they present the weird weather first it leaves room for the students to ask questions on why this happened and then have some of their questions answered.

Does the book encourage children to think for themselves?

This book is pretty cut and dry. Here is the weird weather and here is why it happened. There isn't a huge amount of room for students to think for themselves.

Is the science topic addressed in ways that are appropriate to the lesson?

Yes, the weird weather is appropriate for the age group and can be used successfully during a lesson to give some good examples about how weather can act differently than we are used to.

Is the content based on sound scientific principles? Is it accurate?

Yes, this book references actual weather occurrences so that the reader knows that the scientific principles are accurate.

Does the book distinguish between fact and fiction?

This book does not discuss common misconceptions people have about the weather. The author only talks about specific weather anomalies and how they happened. Everything in the book is presented as fact.

Are the illustrations clear and accurate?

The illustrations give very watered down versions of what it would have actually looked like. They are very childish and do not represent the weather very realistically.

Is the book written at the level of your students?

Yes this is actually a leveled reader book so its targeted level of reader is first to third grade.

Is there a multicultural component? Is it free from stereotyping?

There is a good amount of representation in this book, however everyone on the pages about France and England are white. While the majority of those people in those countries at that time probably were white there were other races as well.

Is the book free from gender bias?

I would say yes. They picture little girls not only in dresses and little boys hanging the laundry. There is a good 50/50 of men and woman represented as well.

Does the book show the close association between science and other disciplines?

There is a close association to science and history shown in this book.

Does the book present a positive attitude toward science and technology?

Yes! They show how weird things can be but also how they have a scientific explanation as well.