Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

  • Home
  • About
  • DISCLOSURES
    • Amazon Affiliate
    • Book Reviews
  • Published
  • Contact
  • Blog
    • Commit Poetry
    • Dared

Book Review: Snow Day by Billy Coffey

December 8, 2010 By Sandra Heska King

Billy Coffey has a gift.

Billy Coffey is a gift.

‘Nuff said.

But I’ll say more.

Because for some of us, the snows of life are here.

Or been.

Or coming.

It’s time to call in well, and hunker down with Snow Day.

Because we need to find the gifts in the blizzards. The beauty in the broken.  Fist bumps in our fears. Delights in the detours. Wonder in our walk.

Billy’s first book is filled to overflowing like a Christmas stocking, spilling little gifts of laughter and wisdom and compassion and faith. Each chapter is like a box of the finest chocolate filled with sweet and chewy bites of everyday life.

This book is part novel and part memoir. It’s hard to tell where fact ends and fiction begins. But the treasures are real and rich. And the truths are timeless (and tweetable.) Re-readable. Billy uncovers them from blankets of the mundane.

This story of a day in the life of Peter, who faces the loss of things he holds close (job, home, money) and discovers flakes of hope that snowball, encouraged me in my journey to deep see and pass it on.

And I’m not soon going to forget Mikey and his sled, Eleanor and her stuff, Helen and her scars, Bobby and his game of hide and seek, the shouter who cried, “help!” or any of the the other folks and lessons woven into this book.

Oh, there’s also Beary. He made me cry.

He’s not the only one.

When it snows, you need bread and milk. You’ll find them here. In this book.

It is a gift for yourself.

A gift for others.

Because Billy has a gift.

And you don’t want to miss it.

And while you’re at it, head on over to his blog and read a gift a day.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

Filed Under: book reviews, stories and reflections

Comments

  1. Kelly Sauer says

    December 8, 2010 at 11:07 am

    ooh – what a perfect review!

    • Sandra says

      December 8, 2010 at 10:34 pm

      Thanks, Kelly. Have you read it yet?

  2. katdish says

    December 8, 2010 at 11:28 am

    You’ve captured the heart of this book, Sandy. Just beautiful. Thank you.

    • Sandra says

      December 8, 2010 at 10:34 pm

      Thank you, Kathy. Did I mention that I love this book?

  3. Karen Lange says

    December 8, 2010 at 2:49 pm

    I’ve heard good things about Billy and his writing. I think I need to check this book out. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

    • Sandra says

      December 8, 2010 at 10:35 pm

      Oh, Karen. You must.

  4. S. Etole says

    December 8, 2010 at 3:45 pm

    I am giving this book as a gift to my grandson … and waiting to borrow it when he has finished!

    • Sandra says

      December 8, 2010 at 10:35 pm

      I’m getting some more gift copies. 😉

  5. *~Michelle~* says

    December 9, 2010 at 10:55 am

    Great review!

    OK, so between all the giveaways I am entering……and having it on my Christmas list…..I am guaranteed to have a copy of Billy’s book in my hands before the New Year! So excited!!!!!!!

  6. V.V. Denman says

    December 9, 2010 at 11:14 am

    What a well-written review. Anybody would want to read Snow Day after reading this. 🙂

  7. laura says

    December 9, 2010 at 12:54 pm

    Oh, crudbuckets. I want this book so bad. I keep entering those giveaways too, but to no avail. I have taken an oath not to purchase any more books until I read the ones I have. That should place me getting Snow Day at some point in my eighties. But I know Billy is an awesome storyteller, so I’ll enjoy it even then!

  8. Carol J. Garvin says

    December 10, 2010 at 2:59 pm

    I’ve been hearing a lot about this book and I think you’ve convinced me that it *has* to go on my list of books to read. Like Laura, my TBR pile is tall enough to topple soon, but it’s recommendations like yours that keep adding to it!

  9. Melinda Lancaster says

    December 10, 2010 at 5:21 pm

    I’ve wanted to read this book long before it got published. That is what reading Billey’s blog will do. Make you want more. More of God, through Billey’s eyes. He does have a gift.
    This book is on my Christmas list. Both of them are books that you have recommended. Imagine that!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Meet Sandra

I’m Sandra, a camera-toting, recovering doer who’s learning to be. still. Read more…

Get updates from the stillness by email

Your personal information is safe and will never be shared.

Archives

Categories

Instagram Inspiration

sandraheskaking

For most of us, knowledge of our world comes large For most of us, knowledge of our world comes largely through sight, yet we look about with such unseeing eyes that we are partially blind. One way to open your eyes to unnoticed beauty is to ask yourself, "What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?" ~ Rachel Carson in The Sense of Wonder
#prayformsu #spartanstrong #spartannurse #michigan #prayformsu #spartanstrong #spartannurse #michiganstateuniversity
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faith Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. ~ Psalm 136:1
A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana in the background until I downloaded the photos. That, I believe, is the one that got caught in one of the openings in the neighbor's chain link fence. We tried in several (safe) ways to dislodge it without luck and could think of no other option but to leave it. Somehow it apparently dislodged itself. We also believe this is the pair that was getting into another neighbor's garden. We haven't seen either one since the last cold snap, so we are wondering if they survived. 
🌱
Thinking some may have tumbled from their perches last night. Pretty sure it will be raining iguanas tonight since we are under a frost advisory. It's cold. And windy.
Just sing... sing a song... Singing our way into Just sing... sing a song... 

Singing our way into the weekend.
"We don't just see. We learn to see." ~ Russ Ramse "We don't just see. We learn to see." ~ Russ Ramsey in Rembrandt is in the Wind
Now you see me... now you don't. Now you see me... now you don't.
"I started looking and listening. I realized that "I started looking and listening. I realized that work, like life, is shot through with poetry. It was everywhere. I was so taken with what I discovered that I wrote a book about it." @gyoung9751 
🌱
Whether you work in an office, a retail store, a restaurant, or at home... Whether you work on roads or on power lines, or on high buildings...Whether you collect trash or preach sermons, or care for your kiddos. Whether you do art, or weave words, or take photos of a common gallinule AKA moorhen AKA swamp chicken--it's all shot through with poetry.
🌱
So pay attention. Find a poem.
🌱
Read more at https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2023/01/10/its-poetry-at-work-day-2023/
Rising… Rising…
Everyone needs a little balance in life. And maybe Everyone needs a little balance in life. And maybe a beauty routine. And breakfast. Especially breakfast. I wonder if it consists of a few fire ants. I hope so. (Well, not mine. I'm having oatmeal with chia seeds. What are you having this morning?)
🌱
P.S. Happy Friday!
"Though your destination is not yet clear You can "Though your destination is not yet clear You can trust the promise of this opening; Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is at one with your life's desire." ~John O'Donohue 
🌿
A blessing for a new beginning in a new year. I'm sure he wrote it especially for me. At least I'm claiming it. Maybe it will speak to you, too.
🌿
Also, I'd really like this skirt --> 
🌿
Read the whole poem--> -->
🌿
Well, bummer... The whole page didn't print. Read it in the comments below.
"What precocity, a bird half the size Of an Anjou "What precocity, a bird half the size
Of an Anjou pear." ~ Stephen Kuusisto in "The Mockingbird on Central" (Find it in The Poets Guide to the Birds edited by Judith Kitchen and Ted Kooser)
🌱
"The morning pages are the primary tool of creative recovery." ~ Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way. 
🌱
I've been in a long creative drought, so I started morning pages--again. This time I've got a bit of an accountability group through @refineretreat's Refinery--which I finally also joined this year. I'll turn 74 this month. I'm not ready to grow old while I age--though everything does seem to take longer while time goes by faster.
🌱
#aweandwonder #tsaweandwonder
Tonight’s walk in the neighborhood. I’m still Tonight’s walk in the neighborhood. I’m still kinda amazed that out of all the places we could have ended up after moving from a place I said I’d never move from), here we are—planted right next to the northern Everglades. Six-plus years, and I still shake my head in wonder.
"So fancy is the world..." ~ Mary Oliver in "This "So fancy is the world..." ~ Mary Oliver in "This World." #aweandwonder #tsaweandwonder
Look, Mom! I can walk on water! #aweandwonder #tsa Look, Mom! I can walk on water! #aweandwonder #tsaweandwonder
Gazing into 2023 like… Let’s take it step by Gazing into 2023 like… 
Let’s take it step by step with hope and courage. Also I hope to be posting again more often.
🎉
Happy New Year!
The morning before the last morning of 2022. 🌴 The morning before the last morning of 2022. 
🌴
71 degrees. Heading to 83. I can live with that.
From the top of Brasstown Bald—the highest point From the top of Brasstown Bald—the highest point in Georgia at 4784 feet.
Winding roads… Winding roads…
Tonight's moon. It's kinda okay. Tonight's moon. It's kinda okay.
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Get the Mug

Embrace the life you have t s poetry mug

Privacy Policy

Full privacy policy is available HERE.

I Read Light

TSP-Red button

bibledude-net



Sponsor a Child

Join the Compassion Blogger Network

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2023 Sandra Heska King · Site by The Willingham Enterprise, LLC on the Genesis Framework by StudioPress · Log in