Snow Day Superstitions

Blog & website of children's book author Tara Lazar Snow Day Superstitions A big storm’s a-comin’, says the weatherman, pointing to a white map. Here in New Jersey, we’re expecting at least six inches of the fluffy stuff by tomorrow. My eleven-year-old neighbor began dancing in front of  my fridge and told me about her snow day superstitions: silly but important steps she must take to ensure a snow day tomorrow. She wears her pajamas inside-out. Sleeps with a big spoon under her pillow. Flushes one ice cube down the toilet for each inch of snow she wants. Eats ice cream. And dances beside the Frigidaire. She swears “everyone” does this. At first I wasn’t sure if “everyone” referred to her sixth-grade friends or the rest of the school-age country. Have these snow day superstitions made their way across America, much like the Mikey-of-Life-Cereal Pop Rocks and Diet Coke rumor of my youth? Yes, they have! Darn it, because I thought this was a charming idea for a picture book. Alas, it’s already been written. Check out “Snow Day Dance” by author/illustrator Will Hubbell. According to my young friend, the final snow day superstition is to say a prayer before bed, so I wrote one for her…and for the rest of the kids in America who are wishing hard for a day off. Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray for snow twelve inches deep. Should it melt before I wake, I pray school’s canceled by mistake!