Meet the man living alone in the mountains whose hobby of measuring snowfall led to a global understanding of climate change in this nonfiction picture book from celebrated mother-son team Jonah and Jeanette Winter.

When billy barr came to the mountains as a young man, his only companions were a skunk and a pine marten. He needed something to fill the hours. So he began measuring the snow that fell. Day after day, and year after year, he measured.

As he grew older, he noticed something: the snow was disappearing. It arrived later, melted sooner, and there wasn’t as much of it. He shared his records with a local scientist, who shared them with other scientists, until his measurements were used by scientists all over the world studying climate change. Thanks to his curiosity, groundbreaking data was gathered that still helps us today!

About The Author

Photo courtesy of the author

Jonah Winter

Jonah Winter is the award-winning author of more than forty nonfiction picture books that promote environmental awareness and social and racial justice. Among them are The Snow Man; The Little Owl & the Big Tree: A Christmas Story; Oil; The Secret Project; Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Case of R.B.G. vs. Inequality; My Name is James Madison Hemings; Barack; The Founding Fathers!; and Lillian’s Right to Vote, a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award recipient and Kirkus Prize finalist.

About The Illustrator

Drawing by Jeanette Winter

Jeanette Winter

Jeanette Winter is a celebrated picture book creator whose acclaimed works include The Snow Man; The Little Owl & the Big Tree: A Christmas Story; Oil; The Secret Project; and Diego, all written by Jonah Winter, and her own Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia; Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan; and Our House Is on Fire: Greta Thunberg’s Call to Save the Planet, which has been translated into twenty-one languages.