Nature Stories: Little Snowflake: Discover an Amazing Story from the Natural World-Padded Board Book

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But really, [Alice] shouldn’t belong to anyone, least of all Lewis Carroll. She exists independently of him.’ If I haven’t earned the title of depression, then neither has she. Because she is a lot less miserable than I am. Or she certainly ought to be.” The illustrations are really fantastic here. The colors are vivid and attention grabbing, making this a book that toddlers and preschoolers are sure to enjoy. Furthermore, the book itself is a lighter board book that will be easy to young toddlers to turn on their own and is fun to simply flip through. Snowflake is a note to self to cherish your family and friends - and the moments spend alone with ourselves. Lousie Nealon is an Irish author that you shouldn't miss out on. I am a culchie. I grew up on a farm in County Galway, though I live in Dublin city these days. My country roots are something I might have run from in my youth, but lately I have grown to appreciate them. I have often felt that our tribe is underrepresented in modern Irish literature but finally, here it is. Snowflake is the Great Culchie Novel. When I saw references in the story to Wavin pipes, standing in gaps to move cattle and traditions like Cemetery Sunday, I knew I was in the hands of a true bogger.

When 18-year-old Debbie makes the transition from secondary school student to college student, she's overwhelmed by the adulting decisions she now faces in school, the pressure to socialise with other students and she lives a life treading between two worlds - that of a more metropolitan Dublin, and her home on the family dairy farm caring for her unstable mother, and talking Greek mythology with her beloved uncle Billy. this is another contemporary, coming of age tale which follows debbie, an 18 year old who lives on a dairy farm as she navigates her 1st year at university, while also trying to handle her eccentric and troubled mother and uncle. if you know me you know i love a coming of age story, so this premise was right up my street. the writing was beautiful and lyrical but also raw, perfectly capturing the mindset of what it’s like to be a young woman figuring out life and trying to survive university (perfect for fans of sally rooney and naosie dolan in that regard). it also had a small magical realism element related to dreams which i definitely think added something unique to the story, even though i do wish it was developed a bit more. i also really enjoyed the irish slang in the dialogue and the exploration of some of the folklore, i found it all so interesting to read about! nealon also touches on several themes in this book too, like mental illness, family dynamics, friendship, identity, alcoholism, the pressure of university, and more. I can’t imagine someone going through life without grasping the concept of the iconic six-armed snow crystal,’ I say.

Little Legends: The Spell Thief

Once you start saying yes, it’s very hard to say no. I’ve kissed so many boys that I don’t fancy just because I feel sorry for them.” Aside from the two main reasons I bought this book – supporting Irish authors and keeping up with the zeitgeist – I genuinely thought this might actually hit my buttons. I too was once a sheltered country girl going to the big city for college and feeling horribly lost from day one. However, right from the start I lost sympathy with Debbie. LITTLE SNOWFLAKE is a delightful story that explains the water cycle through the eyes of a small snowflake. Tiny drops of water freeze and turn into a snowflake, who travels down to the earth with the wind. It lands on a tree before heading to the ground, where children make it part of a snowball and then a snowman. When the sun comes out, they melt and become vapor that travels up to the sky, where they can again be made into snow. This is really very mean. We are not given any context for her being so rude, especially when she states that she was the go-to person for ‘the shift’ all through school. She employed no entry requirements before, so this random dude who knows her by reputation can’t really be blamed for asking. Also ONE PARAGRAPH LATER:

Louise Harland narrated the book and there could not have been a better person. She epitomises Debbie and really brings her character and little quirks to life. Debbie has various encounters with the psychology and psychiatry services, which she describes thusly.In an interview with the Irish Times, author Louise Nealon provided the roots of the novel as being personal. When she was 18, she awoke in the middle of the night convinced she was dreaming someone else’s dream. This was immediately dismissed as delusions. In Ireland, psychiatry is not thought of as being necessary, although it’s improving. Nealon wanted to write a story about the silence of mental illness in Ireland because for her, psychiatry didn’t help her, but reading literature did. Though seemingly unable to escape comparisons with Sally Rooney, this book is in an entirely different register from Rooney's work. While Rooney is interested in philosophical questions about our place in the world and how relationships work, Nealon's work is much grittier and down-to-earth. This is not a slight on either author: I've really enjoyed both of their work, but I think the similarities between them are superficial. Though Nealon's novel begins with Debbie going to university, this story is rooted in the world of a rural dairy farm. The world of Dublin and of Trinity college are secondary to the beating heart of the novel, which is Debbie's immediate family: her mother, Maeve, and her uncle, Billy. The family is loving, but struggles to function: Billy blames himself for his mother's death, and drinks heavily, while Maeve seems constantly on the point of breakdown. Debbie also uses alcohol to cope: it's all she's learnt. Though she was alienated at school, she also feels dislocated in university, and struggles to find her place, though she befriends the privileged but depressed Xanthe. This book is also an indictment of the struggling mental health systems and of clueless therapists, as characters try to seek help and meet bureacratic walls. But Debbie’s life is changing. Earning a place at Trinity College Dublin, she commutes to her classes a few days a week. Outside the sheltered bubble of her childhood for the first time, Debbie finds herself both overwhelmed and disappointed by her fellow students and the pace and anonymity of city life. While the familiarity of the farm offers comfort, Debbie still finds herself pulling away from it. Yet just as she begins to ponder the possibilities the future holds, a resurgence of strange dreams raises her fears that she may share Maeve’s fate. Then a tragic accident upends the family’s equilibrium, and Debbie discovers her next steps may no longer be hers to choose.

As the author went through depression herself, we could feel Debbie's struggles bleeding through the book. The story balances the dark themes and humour well. The discussion of mental health isn't too bleak, yet holding its weight. Do take note there are a few detailed scenes on animal cruelty. This story can be enjoyed as a fun story about the little snowflake, as an explanation for where snow comes from, and/or as a larger education about the water cycle. I think this is the best book I have seen to teach the water cycle to young children so far! The happy little snowflake and friends bring these lessons in a very approachable way with so much fun.Snowflake hat mich in vielerlei Hinsicht positiv überrascht. Am Anfang dachte ich, es wäre die typische Geschichte einer jungen Frau vom Lande, die völlig naiv an die Uni kommt, sich dort zurechtfinden muss und dabei kaum Unterstützung von zu Hause erhält. Das ist es zum Teil auch. Allerdings ist dies nur der äußere Rahmen, denn die Geschichte geht viel tiefer. Everyone knows St Pats [sic: should be St Pat’s]. It’s the place where alcoholics and anorexics go to surrender.” The rest of the book is just a series of events in the lives of Debbie’s bipolar mother and depressed uncle. Debbie herself may or may not have mental health issues, but the topic is treated with such disdain and scorn that it’s hard to say where either Nealon comes down on it. It's disturbingly possible that she's on the side of the people who coined the snowflake [derogatory] version of the title. First, thank you GR friend Peter for reviewing “Snowflake” by Louise Nealon and gushing over her honest representation of the country/farm folk in Kildare County in Ireland. According to Peter, who hails from that area, there is little literature reflecting the lives of the people in that area. One main reason I read is to learn about something I did not previously been acquainted. I wanted to give this novel a shot because I was very curious. I inspect what I just squirted out of myself before I flush it away. Foam fizzed on top of the watery gold like froth on a pint.”