Little Snowflake

Product Information

Stars | SNOWFLAKE BY LOUISE NEALON is the coming-of-age story you (probably) didn’t know you needed (or maybe you already knew). If you’ve been following my stories, you’d know how much i’d been taken by it - and it’s all for good reasons! Even I wasn’t this much of a dope. The ‘exceptionally smart’ Debbie also doesn’t realise she has to register for her course online and has to ask directions to Trinity. From Grafton Street. Um, okay. Debbie isn’t the only funny one. She comes home drunk, and her Uncle Billy gives her one glance and tells her he needs to teach her how to drink. Billy takes her to the local pub, and the lessons are hilarious. This is a quirky story laced with serious themes. 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.

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. 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. 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.

Besides being a coming-out-age story filled with complications and quirky moments, the story is also about self-acceptance and familial relationship. As Debbie steps out of her comfort zone, she has to navigate between new peers and the family bubble. Things eventually fall apart and the dark issues surrounding the family history and mental health are uncovered. 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. If Audrey had kept quiet and continued to drink at home, people would still have sent their kids to piano lessons. Audrey’s problem was admitting that she had a problem, and the problem was with alcohol, the one thing everyone loved.”

Nealon’s writing is sparse and when that’s coupled with a melancholic tone and the Irish setting, the inevitable comparison to Sally Rooney will be made. While i feel like it’s in a league of its own and not all upcoming female Irish writers should be dubbed ‘the next Rooney’, i can see the overlap between the two authors.

Little Critter: Just Going to the Dentist

I tend to avoid some books when they're being hyped up in the media for fear they will not live up to that hype, this is one of those books I avoided at all costs for weeks. I then started to see comparisons being made to Sally Rooney's Normal People and decided hell no not for me. (Apologies Sally Rooney fans!) Fast forward to a Borrowbox update and this beauty popped up in the audiobook section, I thought what have I got to lose. Final verdict: Bringing together all these lovely illustrations with educational elements make this a great read for any young child's library. LITTLE SNOWFLAKE is a great book to share with young learners/readers and teach them about the water cycle in the process. 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.” 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.

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.” 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. Trotz dieser tragischen Geschichte ist das Buch unglaublich humorvoll, die Charaktere sind alle miteinander ein wenig skurril. Gerade für einen Debütroman ist auch die Sprache hervorragend. Ich wurde förmlich hineingesogen in das Buch. Sehr gut gefallen haben mir auch die etwas magischen Elemente. Sie geben dem Roman nochmal einen ganz eigenen Ton. 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.Nealon consistently refuses to use contractions, for no reason. It can’t be in service of rendering accurate Hiberno-English, because that would require more contractions, not less. However, Debbie is starting college soon. She has to step out of her dwelling place, commutes to classes and meets new people. In the first week, she was overwhelmed and disappointed by her fellow students and the anonymity of city life. 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.