Poetry Picture Book - Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman

Illustrated by Rick Allen

2014 Houghton Mifflin Harcoart

HC $17.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.24 -  1179 ratings

My rating:  5
Endpapers: Solid purplish-gray

My comments:  There are twelve lovely poems in this collection, and each of them has a qualifying, informative explanation in prose (example follows).   Very nice for the winter-hater and poetry-lover in me!

Goodreads:  In this outstanding picture book collection of poems by Newbery Honor-winning poet, Joyce Sidman (Song of the Water Boatman,Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night), discover how animals stay alive in the wintertime and learn about their secret lives happening under the snow. Paired with stunning linoleum print illustrations by Rick Allen, that celebrate nature's beauty and power.

What Do the Trees Know?

What do the trees know?
          To bend when all the wild winds blow.
          Roots are deep and time is slow.
          All we grasp we must let go.
What do the trees know?
          Buds can weather ice and snow.
          Dark gives way to sunlight's glow.
          Strength and stillness help us grow.

"Trees, the giants of the plant world, survive winter in two very different ways.  Coniferous (evergreen) trees have thin, was-covered needles that tolerate freezing temperatures and remain on the tree all year round.  Deciduous (leafy) trees, on the other hand, sprout large, flat leaves every spring that are perfect for gathering sunlight to produce energy.  Deciduous trees grow like mad while the weather is warm, but in winter they essentially shut down.   They shed their luxuriant leaves, which would freeze anyway and suck much-needed water from the tree.  The tiny buds, which will hold next year's leaves, develop a tough, scaly coating to protect them all winter.  As the temperatures drop, the living tissue in the tree's trunk undergoes a process called hardening, in which cells lose water and become more resistant to freezing.  An early cold snap - before a tree has hardened - will damage its branches.  But after hardening, the tree will spend the winter months dry, cold, and protected - waiting for spring to swell those hardy buds."

5. A Fatal Grace - Louise Penny

Chief Insp. Armand Gamache #2
listened to Audio (unabridged 10:31) borrowed from TPPL
read by Ralph Cosham
2006 Minotaur Books
311 pgs. (Hardcover) 417 pgs. (Kindle)
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 1/8/2018
Goodreads rating:  4.11 - 49,781 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting:  Christmastime, Three Pines, Quebec (just outside Montreal)

First line/s:  "Had CC dePoitiers known she was going to be murdered she might have bought her husband, Richard, a Christmas gift.  She might have even gone to her daughter's end of term pageant at Miss Edward's School of Girls, or "girths" as CC liked to tease her expansive daughter.   Had CC dePoitiers had known the end was near she might have been at work instead of in the cheapest room the Ritz in Montreal had to offer.  But the only end she knew was near belonged to a man named Saul."

A quote to ponder:  "So much more comforting to see bad in others, gives us all sorts of excuses for our own bad behavior."

My comments:  Winter in Quebec, a cold, snowy, blizzardy time from just before Christmas until New Years.  I wan't really enamored with the first of the series.  But okay, I'll admit it, there's something special about this guy, this chief inspector.  Or is it Three Pines itself?  The idyllic setting, the quirky characters, the way that almost every piece in the thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle fit together.  And Ralph Cosham, the wonderful reader of this audiobook, who speaks the many French words in a way that I an almost understand them all!  It was definitely more of a "cozy" than the gritty murder mysteries I've always preferred, but it was so much more than a cozy mystery.  Of course I will now read more.  Louise Penny has put many questions into her readers' minds that still need to be answered.
ADDENDUM:  There were so many places that I chuckled during the story, lots and lots of subtle humor.  And every time that Ruth Zardo was in the scene, I loved it.  I want to know more about her.  And I really love her poetry!

Goodreads synopsis:  Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder.
No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter—and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death. 
          When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Québec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he's dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder—or brilliant enough to succeed?
          With his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.

43. A Darkness Absolute by Kelley Armstrong

Casey Duncan (Lost City #2)
read on my iPhone (I listened to the first one...)
2017. Minotaur Books
416 pgs
Finished 5/20/17
Goodreads rating: 4.17 - 4717 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting:  Contemporary - Just below the Arctic Circle, in the forest...

First line/s:  "We've been tracking Shawn Sutherland for almost two hours when the blizzard strikes."

My comments:  The second installment in the Casey Duncan/Eric Dalton mystery series is very similar in style to the first installment, and just as addicting. The setting itself is like another character in the story and though some of the scenes seem a little repetitious, it’s an excellently executed plot. So once again character, setting, and plot and twine together quite well. I’m not a dog lover, and the introduction to the story of a puppy that needs full-time care didn’t quite do it for me, personally – though I bet others will really love it.

Goodreads synopsis: The follow-up to #1 NYT bestseller Kelley Armstrong’s acclaimed City of the Lost, Rockton town detective Casey Duncan makes a terrible—and dangerous—discovery in the woods outside of town.
          When experienced homicide detective Casey Duncan first moved to the secret town of Rockton, she expected a safe haven for people like her, people running from their past misdeeds and past lives. She knew living in Rockton meant living off-the-grid completely: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council’s approval. What she didn’t expect is that Rockton comes with its own set of secrets and dangers.
          Now, in A Darkness Absolute, Casey and her fellow Rockton sheriff’s deputy Will chase a cabin-fevered resident into the woods, where they are stranded in a blizzard. Taking shelter in a cave, they discover a former resident who’s been held captive for over a year. When the bodies of two other women turn up, Casey and her colleagues must find out if it’s an outsider behind the killings or if the answer is more complicated than that...before another victim goes missing.
          Casey Duncan returns in another heart-racing thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong. 

PICTURE BOOK - Lemonade in Winter: A Book About Two Kids Counting Money by Emily Jenkins

Illustrated by G. Brian Karas

2012, a Schwartz & Wae Book

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.68 - 595 ratings

My rating: 4

Endpapers:  solid pinky beige

1^st line/s:   "An empty street.
                    Outside, a mean wind blows.
                    Icicles hang from the windowsills.

My comments:  Another math picture book, and it's cute.  The illustrations, by G. Brian Karas are fun to peruse.  A little girl and her younger brother decide to purchase ingredients, make lemonade (and limeade and lemon-limeade) and sell it outside in the blizzard.  There's all sorts of math having to do with quarters and how they add up, how much they spend, and how much they make.  They even have to come up with marketing and advertising ideas!  Nice for first and second ... and perhaps some third graders, too.

Goodreads:  In a starred review, Publishers Weekly declared this delightful picture book "a beautifully restrained tribute to trust and tenderness shared by siblings; an entrepreneurship how-to that celebrates the thrill of the marketplace without shying away from its cold realities; and a parable about persistence."  
          A lemonade stand in winter? Yes, that's exactly what Pauline and John-John intend to have, selling lemonade and limeade--and also lemon-limeade. With a catchy refrain (Lemon lemon LIME, Lemon LIMEADE! Lemon lemon LIME, Lemon LEMONADE!), plus simple math concepts throughout, here is a read-aloud that's great for storytime and classroom use, and is sure to be a hit among the legions of Jenkins and Karas fans. 

PICTURE BOOK - The Shortest Day by Wendy Pfeffer

Celebrating the Winter Solstice
Illustrated by Jesse Reisch

2003 Dutton Children's Books
HC $16.99 when first published....  **must add this to my collection, love it

40 pgs.
TPPL 394.261P

Goodreads rating: 3.78

My rating: 5 - gorgeous - words and illustrations

Endpapers: purple

Title Page: Dark aqua with winter illustrations in an oval mid-page

1^st line/s: 
"In late autumn
in the northern part of the world
squirrels hide nuts,
foxes grow thick fur coats,
and flocks of birds fly to warmer places."

My comments:  Use in class....last day of school before winter break this year is 12/19/14.
          This is a wonderful book on many levels. The illustrations are delicious, full of rich purples, golds, blues.  The kind of loveliness I'd like to frame and put on my walls.  The book explains the "shortest day" - the winter solstice - clearly and simply.  It tells of several ancient cultures' discoveries about the solstices. The book ends with two pages of facts and six wonderful activities:  Making a sunrise/sunset chart, measuring shadows, using a compass, creating a sun and earth demo and having a winter solstice party - for kids AND for the birds!  There's a short list of resources at the very end.  I bet there are some cool books written in the ten years since this list that could be added to it (research time!)

Goodreads:  The beginning of winter is marked by the solstice, the shortest day of the year. Long ago, people grew afraid when each day had fewer hours of sunshine than the day before. Over time, they realized that one day each year the sun started moving toward them again. In lyrical prose and cozy illustrations, this book explains what the winter solstice is and how it has been observed by various cultures throughout history. Many contemporary holiday traditions were borrowed from ancient solstice celebrations. Simple science activities, ideas for celebrating the day in school and at home, and a further-reading list are included.

PICTURE BOOK - Dusk - Uri Shulevitz

Illustrated by the author 2013, Margaret Ferguson Books; Farrar Strauss Giroux

HC $17.99

32 pages

Goodreads rating: 3.34

My rating: 3 (I actually liked this better than most of his previous work)

Endpapers: rusty orange

Title Page: illustrated in an oval, title in colored-in font (a nice example/idea)

1^st line/s:
          Winter.
          Days are short.

          Nights are long.

          Boy with dog and grandfather with beard go for a walk.

My comments:  The illustrations are cool; the day going from sunshine to darkness is illustrated really nicely.  We meet a few odd but interesting people, each with his/her own destination.  The lights come on slowly - and the reader soon learns that it's not just WINTER, it's the holiday season.  Depictions of lights in several cultures are shown.  Words are sparse and unexpected - grammatically and syntactically (have I just invented a new word?)

Goodreads:  One December afternoon, boy with dog and grandfather with beard take a walk to watch the sun begin to set over the river. When the sun drops low in the sky, they start home. Buildings grow dimmer. People are rushing. As nature's lights go out, one by one, city's lights turn on, revealing brilliant Hanukkah, Kwanza, and Christmas displays in streets, homes, and stores. A stunning picture book that's sure to be a winter holiday classic by Caldecott Medalist Uri Shulevitz.

MOVIE - Frozen

PG (1:25)

Wide Release 11/27/2013 

Viewed January 1, 2014 (We tried during Thanksgiving vacation, but it was sold out) with Ella at the Carlisle 8

RT Critic: 89 Audience:  90

Cag:  4.5/Liked it a whole lot  Ella:  6/Awesome

Directed by Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee

Walt Disney Pictures

Idina Menzel (Elsa) Kristin Bell (Anna)

My comments:  This was a great story - at the end it said it's based on the story of the Snow Queen, which I'm apparently not familiar with, so I'll have to look it up.  The faces of all the characters were really beautifully crafted, giving each a distinct personality.  And the winter-ness of it all was just spectacular!  (Both Ella and I really enjoyed the little snowman, Olaf, and all his antics...)

Ella's comments:  I really liked crystals and freezing.  I loved the end when Anna turns to ice and her sister hugs her and starts to cry. I really liked the music - everything about it...the singing, the songs, and the singers.

Rotten Tomatoes:  Featuring the voices of Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel, "Frozen" is the coolest comedy-adventure ever to hit the big screen. When a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, Anna, a fearless optimist, teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven on an epic journey to find Anna's sister Elsa, the Snow Queen, and put an end to her icy spell. Encountering mystical trolls, a funny snowman named Olaf, Everest-like extremes and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction.

Snowflakes Fall - Patricia MacLachlan

Illustrated by Steven Kellogg

2013, Random House

HC $17.99

24 pages

Goodreads:  4.07 (134 ratings)
My rating:  4.5

Endpapers:  Front:  Snow beginningto fall on a sun-gold autumn woods scene
Back:  a completely snow-covered field, moon above, snow still coming down - with snow angels turning into angels flying skyward....

Title Page:  Blue centered square with one BIG snowflake and the book title.

Illustrations:  EAch page of snowfall is just covered with snowflakes, all in Steven Kellogg's one-and-only style.

First line/s:
     "After the flowers are gone
      Snowflakes fall.
          Flake
               After flake
                    After flake
      Each one a pattern
     All its own
          No two the same---
          All beautiful."

My comments:  This is another lovely, feel-good book.  Combine Patricia MacLachlan's wonderful voice and Steven Kellogg's touching, classic illustrations....along with having a percentage of proceeds going to the Sandy Hook Support Fund...and you have a super winner!  "Snowflakes fall/ To quilt meadows/ So we see the wandering prints/ Of birds/ Rabbits/ The bobcat at dawn."

Goodreads:  In Snowflakes Fall, Newbery Medalist Patricia MacLachlan and award-winning artist Steven Kellogg portray life’s natural cycle: its beauty, its joy, and its sorrow. Together, the words and pictures offer the promise of renewal that can be found in our lives—snowflakes fall, and return again as raindrops so that flowers can grow.
 
MacLachlan and Kellogg, who are longtime friends, were moved to collaborate on a message of hope for children and their families following the tragic events in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012. Kellogg lived in Sandy Hook for thirty-five years—he raised his family there and was an active member of the community. With Snowflakes Fall, they have created a truly inspiring picture book that is both a celebration of life and a tribute to the qualities that make each individual unique.
 
In honor of the community of Sandy Hook and Newtown, Random House, the publisher of Snowflakes Fall, has made a donation to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund. Random House is also donating 25,000 new books to the national literacy organization First Book in the community’s honor and in support of children everywhere.

Winter is For Snow - Robert Neubecker

Illustrated by the author

2013 Disney/Hyperion

HC $16.99

32 pages

Goodreads rating: 3.49 (41 ratings)

My rating: 4.5

Endpapers:  White with lots of pale blue snowflakes

Title Page: The same illustrations as the endpapers, except the background is pale, pale blue and the snowflakes are white.  The preceeding page is cool - 9 windows, 3/3, with various stages of a snowstorm.

Illustrations:  Really cool - every inch of the page is covered (much of it with.....snowflakes!)

1^st line:  Winter is for snow!    No.

My comments:  Ah - this is a good one!  A happy brother who loves the snow and everything surrounding it, and a grumpy sister who doesn't care for it at all - until the end.  Their words are in different colors (blue and read) and the four-line stanzas all gently rhyme.  Super book!

Goodreads: In a rambunctious ode to everything winter, two siblings explore a snowy wonderland . . . and end up in the cozy warmth of family. Delve into Robert Neubecker's expressive and rejuvenating illustrations that celebrate snow and the coziness of friends and family at home. Only Robert Neubecker's magic touch could make kids love winter this much.

Holiday Picture Books

I've been reading about lots of holiday book ideas - particularly thinking about "An Advent Calendar of Books." (which I found on Delightful Children's Books) I've always loved Christmas picture books, giving one to Laura on her December birthday for years and years, even as an adult (I think last year was the first year I didn't.  I wonder why?).  So I'm going to keep a list of the holiday books I've read, and try to read more!  Christmas.  Day of the Dead.  Halloween.  Thanksgiving.  Hanukkah (I do work at a Hebrew Day School, after all....).

Christmas

Agee, Jon - Little Santa
Appelt, Kathi - Merry Christmas, Merry Crow
Bastianich, Lidia - Nonna Tell Me a Story

Daly, Niki - What's Cooking, Jamela?  

Donaldson, Julia - Stick Man

Donovan, Jane Monroe - Small Medium &  Large
Drummond, Ree - Charlie and the Christmas Kitty
Duvall, John - The Great Spruce
Evans, Lezlie - Finding Christmas 
Frazee, Marla - Santa Claus The World's Number One Toy Expert

Hardie, Jill - The Sparkle Box 

Lewis, J. Patrick & Beth Zappitello - First Dog's White House Christmas
Lin, Grace - Robert's Snow 
Mader, C. Roger - Stowaway in a Sleigh
Major, Kevin - Aunt Olga's Christmas Postcards

O'Connor, Jane - Fancy Nancy, Splendiferous Christmas
Polacco, Patricia - An Orange for Frankie
..........Gifts of the Heart
..........Trees of the Dancing Goats, The
Reynolds, Peter H. - The Smallest Gift of Christmas

Pulver, Robin - Christmas Kitten, Home at Last

Rice, James - The Cowboy Night Before Christmas

Sabuda, Robert - Winter in White

Schachner, Judy - Willy and May, A Christmas Story

Shannon, David - It's Christmas, David!
Shulevtiz, Uri - Dusk
Smallman, Steve - Santa is Coming to Tucson
Stanton, Melissa - My Pen Pal, Santa
Strand, Keith - Grandfather's Christmas Tree 
Toht, Patricia - Pick a Pine Tree 
Underwood, Deborah - Here Comes Santa Cat
Wilson, Karma - Bear Stays Up for Christmas

Winter/Snow/Solstice

Aylesworth, Jim -  The Mitten
Burton, Virginia Lee - Katy and the Big Snow
Christiansen, Candace - The Mitten Tree
Donovan, Jane Monroe - Small Medium & Large
Gerber, Carol - Winter Trees
Hader, Berta & Elmer - The Big Snow
Harper, Lee - Snow! Snow! Snow!
Lin, Grace - Robert's Snow (There's a bit about Santa here, but it's MUCH more about snow!)
MacLachlan, Patricia - Snowflakes Fall
Neubecker, Robert - Winter is For Snow
Pfeffer, Wendy - The Shortest Day
Sabuda, Robert - Winter in White

Thanksgiving

Miller, Pat Zietlow - Sharing the Bread: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Story

Day of the Dead

Click HERE for a separate entry for Day of the Dead

Joose, Barbara - Ghost Wings

Luenn, Nancy - A Gift for Abuelita

Morales, Yuyi - Just in Case
Thong, Roseanne Greenfield - Dia de Los Muertos

Winter, Jeanette - Calavera Abecedario

Halloween

Brown, Calef - Hallowilloween

Collins, Ross - Dear Vampa

Emberly, Ed - There Was An Old Monster

Gall, Chris - Substitute Creature

Moulton, Mark Kimball - The Very Best Pumpkin

Murray, Marjorie Dennis - Halloween Night

Pulver, Robin - Never Say Boo

Hanukkah

daCosta, Deborah - Hanukkah Moon

Edwards, Michelle - Papa's Latkes
Jenkins, Emily - All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah 
Polacco, Patricia - Trees of the Dancing Goats, The
Rosen, Michael - Our Eight Nights of Hanukkah

Passover

Kirkfield, Vivian -  Pippa's Passover Plate
Newman, Tracy - Around the Passover Table
Portnoy, Minda Avra - A Tale of Two Seders
Rappaport, Doreen - The Secret Seder
Snyder, Laurel - The Longest Night: A Passover Story
Weber, Elka - A Yankee at the Seder
Ziefert, Harriet - Passover

Sukkot
General Information about Sukkot
Hyde, Heidi Smith - Shanghai Sukkah

Taschlich

Schur, Susan - Taschlich at Turtle Rock

POETRY - A Chill in the Air - John Frank

Nature Poems for Fall and Winter
illustrated by Mike Reed
2003, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
32 pgs.
Endpapers:  Mustardy-gold

Simple late-fall and winter poems for kids, some with rhyme, many with humor, and all describing a coldness or northern falls and winters.

Words

In the dawn
that chills my bones
and numbs my face
from ear to ear,
I see each word I speak
take flight,
a whiff of fog,
then disappear.

A Cold October Night

If any witches plan to ride
their broomsticks through this cold night air,
they'd best make sure beneath their gowns
they're wearing thermal underwear.

A Sprinkling of Snow

It hardly snowed at all last night
although I hoped it would.
I wished for lots and lots of snow,
but wishing did no good.
With so much snow my snowman
would have grown and grown and grown.
But now he's scarcely bigger than
a three-scoop ice-cream cone.

Footprints

As I am walking
in the snow
my footprints follow
where I go,
and make a long
and winding track
that leads me home
when I turn back.

Small Medium & Large - Jane Monroe Donovan

Sleeping Bear Press, 2010
$15.95
32 pgs.
Rating: 4
Endpapers: White

In this beautifully illustrated wordless picture book, a girl writes a letter to Santa and is rewarded on Christmas morning with three boxes - one small, one medium, and one large. Inside are a cat, a dog, and a miniature pony. They all immediately become fast friends, eating together, playing and tobogganing in the snow, making snow angels and snowmen, having snowball fights, baking cookies, sitting by the fire together, than all snuggling into her bed at night.

At the end of the book the author tells of her own three animals who are really the prototypes for this story.

This is a lovely wordless book, a perfect addition to a Christmas library, for animal lovers especially. I went through it a number of times - the illustrations are beautiful, full of happy Christmas feelings (and I wouldn't consider myself a great animal lover, either).

Katy and the Big Snow - Virginia Lee Burton

Houghton Mifflin, 1943/1971
Brand new paperback edition has sparkly cover and STICKERS!
$6.99 paper
40 pages
My rating: 5

Virginia Lee Burton's picture books - over sixty years old - are stiill being published! The Little House, Mike Mulligan, Katy - this is incredibly cool, huh? And after reading Katy and the Big Snow again (it's been an incredibly long time) I know why.

There's a wavy border on every page. There's a compass rose on any page that shows the city of Geopolis. There are maps. There's excitement. There's a hero (heroine!)....

When a blizzard covers the city of Geopolis, big, strong Katy the bulldozer-with-a-plough is called out to help (to the rescue!)

The illustrations are primarily in aqua with black, red, yellow, green. and white as the only other touches of color. They're "old fashioned" and incredibly wonderful.

Winter Trees - Carole Gerber

Illustrated by Leslie Evans
Charlesbridge, 2008 (paper 2009)
Paper $6.95
32 pages
My rating: 4

I've been looking for TREE books to accentuate my 4th grade Judaic partner's unit on TuBishvat. This book was a great find!

The illustrations are linoleum block prints, with water color and collage. Really lovely.

The rhyming text looks simple but has a sophisticated complexity:

"They stand distinct as skeletons.
We clearly see the form of each:
the egg shape of the maple tree;
the taller oval of the beech..."

We learn about trees by what they look like in winter - bare decidious shapes, fuller coniferous forms.

Trees discussed: maple, beech, birch, oak, yellow poplar, eastern hemlock, white spruce....these are MY trees, the New England trees that i grew up with, played in and under, knew well. I've been in southern Arizona for 7 1/2 years now, and I know the major cacti, but it's time to learn the native trees!

Snow! Snow! Snow !- Lee Harper

Simon & Schuster, 2009
$14.99
32 pgs.
"Ages 4-8"
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: Blue wash with white snowflake dots

Very simple, few words.

Two kids (dogs) wake up to a lot of snow, grab their dad and a sled and head through the woods to the lake "where there is the best sledding hill in the whole wide world." They soar down the hill and fly...fly...fly through the air until they land with a splat. What fun! Time to climb the hill and go again!

A great family fun winter snow story.

The Mitten - Jim Aylesworth

Illustrated by Barbara McClintock
Scholastic, 2009
$16.99 32 pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: red
A very cute & cuddly winter story.

A "once upon a time" story. The expressions on the animal's faces alone are a good reason to read this book!

A young boy every year receives a warm hat, scarf, and mittens from his grandmother. He plays and plays in the snow...and loses a mitten. Because it's cold they decide to have some hot chocolate and check for the mitten in the morning.

Well. During the night a variety of animals cuddle into the bright red mitten to keep warm - it stretches and it stretches until it's so full of cuddlying animals that it explodes. Cute, very cute.
(And then of course Gram knits a new mitten.)

This is an old folktale from the Ukraine. I'm quite sure Jan Brett has also illustrated this story. Great for comparing versions. Also a great gift for a knitting gram to give her lovin' kiddo...a hat, scarf, mittens, the book, a package of hot chocolate, and a small stuffed squirrel (or bunny or fox or bear or mouse!)

The Big Snow - Berta & Elmer Hader

Caldecott Medal 1949
Simon & Schuster, 1948
$18.99
48 pages
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Aqua-y blue with different white 1.5 inch snowflakes

Although I've seen the cover of this book - it's a Caldecott after all - I don't ever remember reading it. It's actually a great introduction to the coming of winter for the animals in the northern climates for young kids - or kids who live in Arizona and don't have this sort of change of seasons!

The illustrations are beautifully rendered black and white (charcoal? pencil?) with lovely detail. Flora and fauna. Every few pages the illustrations are in color - watercolor - and a totally different look than the black and white. I wonder if the two author/illustrators each had their own media? (More research!) Although I like the black and white illustrations the best, the two page watercolor of the snow blanketing the world - a winter wonderland - is just lovely.

Although told somewhat in story format, this is more of an informational book about what happens to various birds and animals in the winter. Preparation, hibernation and migration are all included. Informative and interesting.

A surprising touch near the end - when the animals are getting a little desperate with hunger because the storm has been pretty major, covering even their stores of food - an elderly couple shovels out of their home and leave all sorts of food for the animals - thoughtfully including both winged and four-legged.

This is a very lovely book. I had no clue. I'm wondering why, in my mind, I was thinking the beauty and story in these older books would be of a poorer quality because they're "old." How ridiculous! I'm so glad I'm taking this journey through the Caldecott books!

Winter in White - Robert Sabuda

A Mini Pop-Up Treat
Published: 2007
Small, 4 X 6 size
Metallic aqua cover

When snowflakes sprinkle (3 silver-tipped flakes)
Welcoming winter (snowman)
A silent hush of snowy white (angel)
Making deep, dark forests bright (antlered reindeer)
Gliding through glistening chill (twirling skater)
Sliding down smooth frosty hills (sled & rider)
Blanketing trees with downy drifts (evergreen with metallic gold star & balls)
Bringing peaceful sounds of nature's gifts. (2 doves unwrapping a package)

This WAS a pop-up treat. It made me remember years ago, when I was an Ozette in Oz Children's Bookstore in Southwest Harbor, Maine, two women who came in one afternoon. They collected pop-up books...had a huge collection....and referred to a big notebook to see whether they could find any new books for their collection. They did. I'd forgotten that completely until I remembered, for some reason, when I was reading this book. Ahh, the human brain.

This book is quite a work of art. And I love the snazy verbs!