Happy Snow Friends

The Happy Snow Friends Counting Book

““One happy snow friend was wondering what to do.” And thus begins a short picture book story called The Happy Snow Friends Counting Book – featuring a collection of needle felted snow friends as they gather together on a winter’s day. The book, written and crafted by Canadian author Marty Layne, aims to bring together the joviality of snow people with the early skill of numbers and counting. Written in a lilting style of poetry, this story is also able to be sung. You can find the music notes on the inside of the back page. By the end of the book, you meet 10 ridiculously cute little snow friends of all shapes and styles and sizes…”  from a review by Lisa Marie Fletcher

Take a peek at a few of the pages in this sweet 28 page 5.5″ x 8″ full colour paperback picture book for all ages

Download a free coloring page of Rose, the first snow friend.

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The Happy Snow Friends Counting Song
by Marty Layne

One happy snow friend was wondering what to do…

Reviews: The Happy Snow Friends Counting Book

These are really good rhymes. I really like them.” from a 12 year old boy listening to the story as I read it at a craft fair.

I just kept smiling and smiling as I looked at the photos and read the words. I had to buy one!

“One happy snow friend was wondering what to do.” And thus begins a short picture book story called The Happy Snow Friends Counting Book – featuring a collection of needle felted snow friends as they gather together on a winter’s day. The book written and crafted by Canadian author Marty Layne, aims to bring together the joviality of snow people with the early skill of numbers and counting. Written in a lilting style of poetry, this story is also able to be sung. You can find the music notes on the inside of the back page. By the end of the book, you meet 10 ridiculously cute little snow friends of all shapes and styles and sizes. …

“I read this book with my 3 and 5-year-old. They loved it so much that we ended up reading it about 4 or 5 times in a row before I had to call it a night and tuck them in bed….

“My granddaughter has had me read it to her every night since I bought the book. Her kindergarten teacher loves it , too, and has read it to the class a number of times.”

by Vicki Neilson, MLIS
Public Services Librarian –
Emergent Literacy Portfolio
Greater Victoria Public Library

The Happy Snow Friends Counting Book is a delightful book that can be read aloud and sung, too!  

This is the type of book that makes you want to curl up under a blanket with a hot cocoa and gaze at the beautiful pictures.  Each page introduces a snow friend until there are 10 in all and gently they go to sleep at day’s end. To add to the sweetness of this book, Marty is donating $1.00 from the sale of each book to Food Banks Canada.

Definitely a winter treasure!

The Happy Snow Friends Counting Book

Marty Layne has long been well-known in Victoria for her workshops with parents and young children, in which she has shared her vast knowledge of and joy in music and poetry for the very young. She has encouraged countless families to experience the reality that a child is never too young to enjoy music, language and visual art.

Now Marty has combined all three of these components in a beautifully executed picture book, The Happy Snow Friends Counting Book. This book displays Marty’s genius as a visual artist in the delightfully colorful needle-felted snow people she has created to represent the rhymes she has written for each number, from Rose (number one), who joins Miss Bird (number two), to Uncle Kevin (guess which number), Cora (loaded with presents) and Mr. Jolly. The snow people have been lovingly and professionally photographed by Marty’s son, renowned painter and art teacher Noah Layne. As for the music—Marty has written a simple tune to go with the rhymes, which is displayed inside the back cover of the book, and on her website.

Kelly Green, former editor, Canadian Book Review Annual’s Canadian Children’s Literature

Purchase a copy of The Happy Snow Friends Counting Book for $10.00 Canadian plus shipping , please click on the button appropriate for your area of residence. All prices are in Canadian Dollars and payment is through PayPal at Sea Change Publications. $1.00 from the sale of each book will be donated to https://foodbankscanada.ca/

PayPal accepts credit cards as well payment by a PayPal account and will change your currency into the Canadian dollar value automatically.  Books are sent by Canada Post.

If you’d like to order multiple copies, please contact me for a discounted rate at info @ marty layne.com. Remove the spaces.

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About the book

Everyone who’s seen the book starts by calmly looking at the pages and reading the simple text. By the time they get to the third snow friend, there are comments of “Sweet” or “How cute.” When the fourth snow friend appears, a big grin or a burst of laughter fills the air and as reading continues more laughs, smiles or comments of “Look how many there are.” “So sweet!” “Cute, I want a copy.” “Can I buy a snow friend?” follow.


I read it to two young men in their mid-twenties who were helping me in a store. Their reactions were as delighted as the little eight year old boy who peeked over my friend’s shoulder at a coffee shop as she was reading the book for the first time. She invited him into the story and he loved it as much as she did. I’ve read it to a woman in her 80s waiting for a taxi and she smiled as much as the two young men in the store.


So how did this book come about? did I really make all of those snow friends? And what is needle felting? Needle felting is a way to sculpt with wool. I buy wool that has been washed, cleaned and carded (brushed) into a long continuous length (roving) about 2 inches wide. I then use the roving to create my snow friends by poking the wool into the shape I want with a special needle with barbs that make the fibers lock together. It can take me 1.5 – 3 hours to create a snow friend depending on how the shape and features come together.


A few years ago, I made a number of snow friends that I sold as a fundraiser for my local food bank. I had a lot of fun making them and they basically sold themselves. In the fall of 2017, I didn’t have the creative energy to make more snow friends but I still wanted to use the ones I hadn’t sold to continue to raise funds for food banks. I woke up one morning in mid-December with a counting rhyme in my head and began to create The Happy Snow Friends Counting Book.  I set up a photo shoot with my son, Noah. Following the script of the book, I set the scene for each page of the story and he took the photos. The first hand made edition was a present for my grandchildren.

 

I hope you’ll help me support food banks and buy a copy of The Happy Snow Friends Counting Book.  It will make  you smile!

Contact me  – info @ martylayne  .com  (remove all spaces). I look forward to hearing from you.