Why is she so enthusiastic about “Snowballs,” a book written and illustrated by Lois Ehlert?

“Just look at the illustrations!” said Kim Flores, a mother of three who manages the children’s department at the Library Center. And she’s right. One glance through this oversized board book and you’re hooked. The author takes a mixed media approach, a cut-paper look mixing photographs and graphics.

The book is not only a delightful story about children who create a family of snow, but it also includes information on the properties of snow and what makes it snow. This makes the book ideally suited to reading to kids of all ages.

Flores’s second favorite “snow” book is “The Snow Day,” the classic by Ezra Jack Keats. “It’s the sweetest and most wonderful story I know,” she says. “I’ve never read it to a child who didn’t love it.” The Caldecott Award-winning book is about a little boy and one special day in a snowy landscape.

“The Jacket I Wear in the Snow,” written by Shirley Neitzel and illustrated by Nancy Winslow Parker, is a catchy poem with satisfying rhythm about an everyday situation familiar to every kid.

“It’s a cumulative story,” says Flores. “Every page builds on the previous page, a good example of sequencing which is an excellent pre-reading skill.”

For the older child, Flores recommends “Journey into the Arctic,” an oversized book by Bryan and Cherry Alexander. The photographs of animals and people are interesting and the text is well written and informative. One page shows a child how to dress warmly in layers just like the Inuit children.

When no one watches, snowmen play games at night. Don’t believe it? Then read this book, “Snowmen at Night” by Caralyn Buehner with pictures by Mark Buehner. It’s been nominated for the Missouri Building Blocks award.

Here are other suggestions, all with a snow theme:

· “Here Comes the Snow” by Angela Shelf Medearis

· “Martin MacGregor’s Snowman” by Lisa Broadie Cook

· “Who Grows Up in the Snow?” by Theresa Longenecker

· “Snow Music” by Lynne Rae Perkins

· “Don’t Wake Up the Bear!” by Marjorie Dennis Murray

· “The Snow Ghosts” by Leo Landry

· “Snow Day!” by Pat Lakin