It’s undeniably winter in Chicago, so we are turning to some of our favorite books to transition into the season. We have found many amazing books about winter that I’m excited to share with you all over the next few weeks. This week’s stack is focused on learning and celebrating the beginning of winter.
Kate Messner and Christopher Silas Neal’s Over and Under the Snow starts with a kid and a grown up skiing through the snow. As they go, the kid learns about the animals and insects who are waiting below ground for warmer weather. The book flips from the kid’s story to the creatures under the snow, drawing readers’ attention to the parallels between them. The images are smart, showing both the top of the snow and what’s underneath on each page. Both of my kids like to read this one. It has inspired them to consider what might be near us as we take our winter walks!
Ok this one probably should have been in our Christmas stack, but it’s based on Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith’s winter song, right? Even though it gets played all the time at Christmastime. What drew me to Walking In a Winter Wonderland was the images- Tim Hopgood’s collaged images use deep greens and blues layered with pinks, reds, oranges, and yellows to set a celebratory vibe in the dark winter setting, just like the song. I love the snowflakes that adorn each page, and the way the kids and adults are out enjoying the snow. My kids obviously love to sing rather than reading this fun book. If you need a little cheer, this book will get you there!
Francisco X. Alcarón adn Maya Christina Gonzalez’s bilingual Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems / Iguanas en la Nieve y otras poemas de invierno is perfect as an introduction to poetry for my kids. My older kid is a bit better able to understand the genre- to read the short poems and think about the ideas. My younger kid likes to hear the rhymes and the images really help her with comprehension. I also love to read them both in Spanish and English. At this point my kids aren’t able to understand the Spanish, but the more they hear Spanish, the more they’ll learn it. While I’m not intensely teaching them Spanish, I am hoping that they pick up some of it and it helps them to see differences as normal.
In In the Snow by Huy Voun Lee, Xiao Ming and his mother go outside to practice writing Chinese characters on a day when fresh snow blankets the ground. Xian Ming’s mother explains that many of the characters look like the things they represent, and how adding to a character can change its meaning. Lee does an amazing job of showing this, too, in the images that accompany the story! It was really fun too include this book into our stack- we don’t know much about Chinese characters and enjoyed this first introduction to it!
The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice by Wendy Pfeffer and illustrated by Jesse Reisch appealed to my non-fiction loving 7 year old. It starts by explaining how the daylight hours are fewer in the winter months, and then shares the history of how people came to understand the winter solstice. It ends with an explanation of a solstice, and suggests several activities you can do to understand more- measure shadows on each solstice, make a winter solstice party – and have one for birds by making birdfeeders! If you’re looking for a more informational approach to welcoming winter, this is the book for you!
As you snuggle up in these cold months, we hope these books keep you cozy. If you love any enough to purchase them, I’d love if you did so through the links in the post above. They link to my Bookstore shop, and i’ll make a small commission from your purchase. Plus, you’ll support a cool independent bookstore. I have tons of other books listed by theme in my shop, and I hope that helps you find books you love for the kids in your life.