In the world of snow there are three types: chionophobes (snow avoiders), chionoeuphores (snow endurers), and chionophiles (snow lovers). That’s one of many cool facts to be found in Snow Amazing, the latest collaboration by co-authors Jane Drake and Ann Love, who have written numerous natural history and activity books. Drake and Love enthusiastically approach the subject of snow from various angles -– meteorological, scientific, historical, artistic, and through folk tales – with the objective of encouraging young readers to learn about and appreciate snow. That aim is stymied, however, by the hodgepodge presentation of information and poorly chosen format.

The entries range from encyclopedic barrages of fact, so densely packed that retaining information is a daunting task, to ones that are unsatisfyingly sketchy. Many of the entries, such as those on snowflake, snowstorm, and glacier formation, cry out for the helpful addition of illustrations and diagrams. Surprisingly, there are no meteorological maps to accompany the sections on weather forecasting, nor a map of the snowy habitats of mammals and birds, nor timeline charts with the blizzard and Arctic exploration entries. Instead, the pages are dotted with cutesy drawings of hibernating bears and bunnies, and photographs that are an odd blend of postcard-like snow scenes and family album shots. Photos would have been a fascinating accompaniment to the section on Snowflake Bentley, the first person to photograph snow crystals in the 19th century; Bentley took 5,000 photographs, but none of them or anyone else’s appear here.

The page design is unimaginative, with text sometimes muddied by background watermark illustrations. An infusion of the kind of design pizzazz that’s usually a hallmark of Kids Can books would have been a major improvement.