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Good books, old friends

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By Kara G. Kvasnicka

Tuesday, November 29, -0001

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Few of us like to drive in it, but we all appreciate it's aesthetic qualities, especially at this time of year. Most of us are content with the beauty of snow that is naked to the eye. However, the award-winning children's picture book Snowflake Bentley (Houghton Mifflin, 1998, $16.00) quite literally urges us to notice every flake.

This charming and unlikely biography of Wilson Bentley (1865-1931), a Jericho, Vt. farmer who won renown for his photography of snow crystals, is written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Mary Azarian.

Azarian's enchanting woodcuts, hand tinted with watercolors, earned the American Library Association's latest Caldecott Medal for best illustrations in a children's book.

Both author and illustrator should be lauded just for bringing to our attention the intriguing story of an American original about whom little has been written.

The creative team lists as sources for background information just two journal articles in addition to photographs and documents that have been preserved by the Jericho Historical Society.

Azarian's lushly detailed woodcuts deservedly take center stage in this effectively designed picture book. With bold lines, a well-struck balance between strong and delicate colors and painstaking detail, she captures the determination and joy that went into Bentley's lifelong mission to advance the cause of beauty, using the tools of science and technology. The simplicity of Vermont farming life and the cohesiveness of Bentley's family and community are also adeptly conveyed by Azarian's illustrative processes.

However, Azarian's crowning achievement is her portrayal of snow in all the forms it takes — falling from the sky, blanketing the earth and as single crystals magnified under Bentley's microscope lens. Her alternation of peaceful and playful snow scenes are so inspiring that you may find yourself anxiously checking the local forecast to find out when the next snowfall is headed our way.

While Azarian's pictures tell the story, Martin's interesting parallel texts only enhance the book's overall appeal. The major turning points and milestones in the life of "the Snowflake Man" are presented in brief, lyrically-worded paragraphs set against Azarian's woodcuts.

Her vivid and informative descriptions of the tricky photographic processes by which Bentley attempted to reproduce images of snowflakes, not to mention the unusual camera he used, will captivate younger readers. They may even express an interest in getting their own look at snow under a microscope.

(I know I would like to give it a try now that I know each snowflake has its own unique, intricate, kaleidoscopic pattern — more exquisite than any jewel man could fashion from metal and gemstone.)

On most pages Martin uses sidebars to provide dates, specific details of Bentley's experiments and other valuable information. Appropriately enough, these "closer looks" at Bentley's life are like microscope slides — separate, easily distinguished frames in which a pattern of magnified snow crystals provides the backdrop for the wording.

The artwork in this book is a treat in and of itself. That includes, in addition to Azarian's incredible woodcuts, three reproductions of actual photographs of snow crystals that Bentley took.

And what better way to get into the spirit of the season of giving than through the heartwarming chronicle of a man who dedicated his life to a single-minded effort to give the world a deeper appreciation of its natural wonders?

Why, we may ask, would anyone want to spend his entire life in frustrating and often fruitless attempts to photograph a substance as ephemeral and transient as snow?

As Bentley explains in a quote that Martin uses on the last page, he honestly felt that revealing the true depth of natural beauty was just as important and valuable as any other kind of work. Other farmers produced food for the table. He produced food for the soul.

After reading this book, you will undoubtedly want to see more than three of Bentley's photographs. Luckily, copies of his own 1931 book Snow Crystals are still available.

You will also find some of his photographs on the World Wide Web. I looked at several lovely images on www.snowflakebentley.com, a site which also contains information about the Jericho Historical Society's ongoing display of his work at a Vermont museum.

Have a joyous holiday season, and keep Snowflake Bentley in mind in the unlikely event that Mother Nature does not come through with any of the real stuff.

Kvasnicka, a former East Village Magazine news editor, has been the magazine's contributing editor and research consultant since 1989. She has a master's degree in information and library studies from the University of Michigan and is the librarian at Genesee District Library's Beecher Library.

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