Snow Day by Pamela Greenhalgh Hamilton

Disappointed with the description, but enjoyed the story and illustrations anyway.

It's snowing!  No school today!  It snowed all night and now every kid's winter wish has come true.  School has been cancelled for the day.  It's a snow day!


At first it was fun.  Tessa, Jake, and Molly got to wear their winter coats over their PJs so Mom could drive them to Grandma and Grandpa's.  Then Grandma made them oatmeal and muffins for breakfast.


But now what?  Grandma and Grandpa don't have a computer or video games.  And it's snowing harder than ever.  Suddenly the exciting day is becoming the longest day in their lives.


Never fear, Grandpa is here.  He's full of ideas to fill up the day and rounds it out with a secret surprise.  By the time the last snowflake has fallen, Tessa, Jake, and Molly have a Snow Day they won't ever forget.

Let's start off by rewriting that description:  It's a snow day!  The kids are spending it with their grandparents and have a wonderful time.

There's no mention in the book of breakfast or pajamas or no video games.  When I requested the book, it was because I really wanted to see how the grandparents rerouted the kids' attention to get them to play outside versus playing video games or watching television.  The moral that you can still have fun without technology is there, but it's not as strong as it would have been if we had seen the redirection.  Instead, we start out with the kids arriving at Grandma and Grandpa's and they immediately want to go outside to play.  Of course, this is just my opinion, but I really feel like the description could have been better written to convey what's actually on the inside of the book. 

The story itself was cute.  The children have a wonderful day hanging out with their grandparents.  After the outdoors fun, Grandma and Grandpa have some great ideas for how to have fun inside as well.  This would be a great story to read to a child that is going to be spending some time with the grandparents and is concerned that they'll be bored.  The only problem I see with that idea is that this book is geared towards younger children, probably first grade down, and usually at that age they're still excited to see their grandparents. 

The illustrations are bright and colorful and fitting to the story.  You can see everyone enjoying themselves and there are plenty of details for children to pick out. 

I don't mean to sound as if I'm giving this book a negative review.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it adorable.  Personally, I feel like the book could have served a better purpose if it were actually what it depicts it is.  It's great that the children had a good day and it was a fun story.  I just wanted a little more focus on the fact that they were actually spending time with their grandparents and having fun away from technology.