Favorite Wintry Reads

Parts of the country are continuing to get lots and lots of snow. Why not embrace it and sit down with a quilt, some hot chocolate, and a stack of wintry reads. We found a few great winter book lists to get you started...

Under My Hood I Have a Hat (above) is the current favorite wintry read in our house. It's a sweet and simple poem about a little girl who is so bundled up she won't be able to get up if she falls down. She tells us each of the items of clothing she's wearing as she takes them off and sits down for a snack with her dog before putting them back on to head out into the snow again.

• Amanda Soule's list is from her archive back in 2008 but it's a great one including Snowflake Bentley, Flannel Kisses, and The Snowy Day. Be sure to check out the comments section for other great suggestions from Amanda's readers.

• The Glendale Library has a nice roundup- and of course- don't forget to check your own local library for suggestions (and books!)

• Wonderful Winter Books from a teacher who also has great activities to go along with them on her blog, Not Just Cute.

Reading through the seasons is a wonderful way to establish a rhythm within your family.

Any favorite wintry reads?

Comments (3)

"Snow Music" by Lynne Rae Perkins is my absolute favorite winter picture book. From the School Library Journal review: "This picture book begins and ends with a whisper of snow. In between, a lost dog, a boy, a girl, a deer, a rabbit, and a squirrel cross paths as readers follow their tracks through the vast white of the pages. The tracks are both textual and pictorial as they create meandering word patterns and paint pictures of footprints in the snow. From the "peth, peth, peth" of the falling snow to the "jingle, huff, jingle, huff-" of the runaway dog, the text sings. The written word becomes a choral reading with solo voices while the ink-and-watercolor illustrations add another dimension to the composition."

Link to amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Music-Ribbon-Picture-Awards/dp/0066239567

I am so thrilled to see Karla Kuskin's book featured here. She passed away just last year and left an amazing legacy of poems, stories and illustrations that beautifully capture the daily reality of life as a child. One of her poems is stitched onto a quilt that hangs in my daughter's bedroom and we read it each night before she goes to sleep. Here it is:

What separates each one of us
from all the beasts and bugs and birds?
Well they have feathers, fur and wings
but we have words
and words
and
words.

One of our favorite winter read's is one of Karla's early books, "The Philharmonic Gets Dressed". My daughter, 20 months, gets a kick out of all the photos of the musicians getting dressed, and she also loves all the different instruments shown. We try to make sounds for each one, which is pretty funny.

We just got a new one called "Snowballs" by Lois Ehlert - it's very short and simple but all the pictures are like collages of recycled items - it's so cute and textural. My son loves the pictures!