A Perfect Snow

Rating:
Summary: A Close to Perfect Story
Review: Powerful and fast-paced, Nora Martin's "A Perfect Snow" documents a season in the life of 17-year old Benjamin Campbell. After Ben's dad loses his ranching job, the family is forced to move into a dilapidated trailer where they are trying to adjust to their new lives. For Ben, who has always been a popular football player and clearly the favorite son, this adjustment is an uneasy one that results in a gripping coming of age story. Meanwhile, his brother, David, who has always been on the sidelines, eventually finds life in rural Montana the easiest it's ever been for him. Just a few months into the school year, and already fed up with being treated like second-class citizens, the boys discover Lodgette's dark side. Ben quickly becomes immersed in the hate-filled subculture and encourages his brother to do the same; when he sees his brother participating in the shootings and vandalism, he realizes just how wrong these activities are. As a result, he spends the rest of the winter trying to get David back on the right path without revealing his participation in the town's sordid events to his parents and two unlikely allies.
From the in media res beginning, the story grabs the reader and doesn't let go until the very end. In addition to the main storyline, there are a couple of other side stories going on between Ben and his new friends, but the occasional jarring language of the primary story always reminds the reader what the story is really about: the destructive nature of hate and that acceptance of one's self leads to acceptance of others. Despite Martin's tremendous use of metaphor and poetic language, the story does contain a few flaws, some of which may be related to its length. First, character development is weak even with the protagonist - this could perhaps be solved in a few extra pages. Just as quickly as Ben falls for the white supremacist rhetoric of Guardians of the Identity, he wants out and believes their activities are immoral and unethical. This leads the reader to wonder if perhaps he had gone to a meeting on another day, whether or not their venomous beliefs would have had the same impact on him. On a similar note, while the father is aghast at what his sons have been up to, he is the one that encouraged them to go the meetings and never chastised David for his racial slurs. David is the only one that is believable as a hate-monger because of all the characters, he is clearly the one with the most self-esteem issues and has the most to gain by behaving in such a manner. It is all a bit too neatly packaged, but again, with only 144 pages, there is not much room for any lengthy plot or character development. Also, Martin fails to give a conclusion to David's story/problem, leaving the reader wondering what became of him. While one of the points of the book is to show young readers there are consequences for their actions, this lack of a conclusion fails to show there is a penalty for violence.
"A Perfect Snow" is ideally suited to the post-Columbine/9-11 classroom. It is important that issues such as teen violence and racial hate crimes be dealt with in these unsettling times in an effort to prevent such things from happening. Like S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders", "A Perfect Snow" deals with the problems that occur in socioeconomically diverse high schools, but Martin also addresses the larger matters of racism and homophobia. Though not as well-written as Hinton's book or Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird", this text would be a suitable alternative or complement to them. In addition to introducing diversity and ethics into the classroom, Ben's actions in the book can help students learn of the personal worth one can find in helping others and community service. The length of the book and Martin's easy, engaging style make it appropriate for a variety of grade levels between middle and high school. Finally, it can even be of value to parents because it allows them the opportunity to see that even if they don't encourage racism in the home, by not discouraging such bigotry and intolerance, kids are susceptible to groups like Guardians of the Identity.
While not a must-read, "A Perfect Snow" is certainly a good read. It packs a powerful punch in its small size and librarian/writer Nora Martin should be pleased with her work.