SNOWY DAYS

Winter is here with snow and cold days. A good thing to do on a wintery day is read a good book. Here are some good children's books to share with your children.

The Snowman - Briggs
Here is a book even a preschooler can read as there are no words. A child invites a snowman into his house and shows him amazing sights. The snowman takes the boy on a wonderous flight over cities. You can talk the child through the story or better yet have the child tell you what they think the story is about.

The Tomten - Lindgren
Everyone is sleep as snow falling at the farm in the forest - except the Tomten, a friendly troll who lives in a corner of the hayloft by day and guards the farm by night. No one has ever seen the tomten, but the children see his footprints in the snow.

The Tomten and the Fox - Lindgren
Another book about the Tomten who guards the farm at night.

Snow - Shulevitz
As snowflakes slowly come down, one by one, people in the city ignore them, and only one boy and his dog think that the snowfall will amount to anything.

Katy and the Big Snow - Burton
Katy is a plow for the highway department. In the summer she repairs roads and in the winter she plows snow. After a heavy snow fall, Katy is called on to dig out the city that is lock in because of all the snow. You can follow Katy as she recues everyone and they can all get back to work.

The Snowy Day - Keats
Peter woke up to a snowy world and went out to explore. He made trails in the snow, he smacked snow off a snow-covered tree, he had a snowball fight with some boys, and he made snow angels. What fun can you have with fresh snow?

Little Polar Bear - de Beer
while hunting with his father, a young polar bear drifts out to sea and ends up in a jungle where a friendly hippo helps Little Polar Bear return home.

The Snow Speaks - Carlstrom
The sights and sounds of the first snowfall are captured in this book. Great snow pictures!

Winter's Coming - Bunting
Pictures of the seasonal changes, and a brother and sister who take part in preparations for the coming winter. The farm bustles with activity and the whole family shares in the work. A small book that is just right for small hands.

Yesterday's Snowman - Mack
All the fun a family can have in the snow is shown in this small book.

The Biggest Snowstorm Ever - Paterson
One day it began to snow and snow and snow and soon it became a very big snow and the family had to jump out the second story window to play in the snow. After the snow the family has hot chocolate. Sounds like fun!

A Snowman Named Just Bob - Moulton
A story of Bob - a snowman.

In Winter - Moncure
Fifteen poems celebrating the snow, hibernating animals, icicles and other signs of winter.

The Mitten - Tresselt
A retelling of an old folktale. A small boy loses a mitten on a cold day in winter. The mitten is found by a small mouse and then larger and larger animals who want to get in out of the cold. Finally the mitten is split and all the animals are dumped out into the snow and run off. The boy comes looking for his lost mitten and sees and tiny mouse running off with the red lining of the thumb of the lost mitten.
There is another book by Jan Brett with the same story but very different and colorful pictures. It might be fun to take home both books and compare the story and the pictures.

Thomas' Snowsuit - Munch
The story is about Thomas and his struggles with a new snowsuit - both at home and at school. If you have children you will sympathize with the people who confront Thomas.

When Winter Comes - Mass
Simple text and photgraphs of all the winter activities - sledding, mittens, warm fires and hot soup.

Get Set...Go! Winter - Thomson
Winter days are short and cold. It is often snowy and icy. What can you do in weather like this? Look for bird and animal tracks, do twig weaving, make snowflakes, and feed the birds. The book will show you how to do all these things.