Engineer Husband called from the living room, “Did this book win the Caldecott Medal?”

“What book?” I asked.

“Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton.”

“No I don’t think so.”

“Well, it should have because the illustrations are great.”

He’s right. The pictures are what makes this picture book special. The story is a sort of combination of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by the same author and The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. But the illustrations are colored drawings of the vehicles and buildings of Geoppolis on a background of white snow. A black and white picture map of Geoppolis on pages 6-7 gives readers a chance to slow down and find all the places in the key that’s scattered around the margin of the two page spread. Then Katy the Snowplow plows through all the snow and uncovers a little more of Geoppolis on every succeeding page.

The theme for Week 3 of Picture Book Preschool is Big Machines. Preschoolers and primary age children love machines: bulldozers, steam shovels, eighteen wheelers, dump trucks, and snow plows. There’s something about those huge machines that makes a little person feel powerful and excited just watching them work. I think Katy will be a favorite at your house for both boys and girls.

Kindergarten unit for teaching about weather, maps, community services, and summarizing using Katy and the Big Snow.
Biographical information about Virginia Lee Burton

Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. You can purchase a downloadable version (pdf file) of Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early at Biblioguides.