In my mind, January is a month to rest and cocoon a little after the holidays. It's cold outside, and all I really want to do is curl up with a stack of books for a few hours.
So I'm left wondering, why is this January so busy? We've had hardly an time at home!
At the end of December I requested a massive stack of winter picture books from our library, with intentions of making it through them all - and we've probably only had time to read a third of them.
Since it's taking us so long to get through our books, I thought I would share our winter picture book suggestions in parts. At the rate we are going, we may not read through all of our books until spring! I'll just share the books that stand out to us as we go. So here are the books we have loved for winter so far.
Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett - Another retelling of Little Red Riding Hood by Jan Brett, but all her retellings of this classic tail are on our favorites list!
The Snowy Nap by Jan Brett - Hedgie decides he wants to see the winter, so he stays awake instead of hibernating. A very cute and cozy winter story!
The Mitten by Jan Brett - A mitten becomes a home for multiple animals that we know from Brett's other winter books. My preschoolers really loved this one especially!
The Hat by Jan Brett - An adorable story about Hedgie accidentally starting a fashion trend when a sock gets stuck on his head. Really adorable illustrations!
Why The Evergreens Keep Their Leaves by Annmarie Riley Guertin - This is a cute myth/fable, about how evergreen trees got to keep their leaves because they were kind to an injured cardinal bird. We aren't huge into mythology, but I do like to read them an occasional myth or fable that doesn't get too much into pagan gods, etc, and this one doesn't. The Frost Queen and Jack Frost appear in this story, and decide not to make the evergreens lose their leaves because of their kindness.
In The Snow: Who's Been Here? by Lindsay Barrett George - This book follows two kids exploring the woods and noticing all the signs of different animals that have been left behind. It would be a great jumping-off point for some winter nature study!
Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett - A girl starts knitting sweaters from a magic yarn box that never runs out - this story is so quirky! My kids love it every year, and we actually do see a "tree sweater" on the way to church in front of a particularly eclectic house, so that's makes this book extra fun.
Winter Sleep: A Hibernation Story by Sean Taylor and Alex Morss - A child goes with his granny to their hidden forest glade in the summer and the winter. But where did all the animals go? Lots of great info about how different animals hibernate in the back of the book!
Winter Trees by Carole Gerber - A cute picture book that highlights the different characteristics of winter trees. Great for nature study with little ones!
Katy And The Big Snow by Virginia Burton Lee - A great story about the perseverance of a snow plow named Katy.
Big Snow by Jonathan Bean - David helps his mom around the house while waiting for enough snow to cover the ground to play in. Bonus points for being written and illustrated by a homeschool alumni!
Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep by Maureen Wright - In this book, Big Bear keeps mishearing "Old Man Winter", and instead of going to sleep he drives a jeep, dives deep, etc.
Winter Story by Jill Barklem - The illustrations in this book really make it for me - the little forest creatures and their cozy underground homes are so fun to look at!
Wintercake by Lynne Rae Perkins - The animals are celebrating a holiday, and Thomas loses his ingredients. Along the way to finding them, they make a new friend. My kids enjoyed the subtle humor in this one, and I enjoyed the good vocabulary words worked into the text.
You know the thing I love about picture books? They are an easy win. We like reading chapter books too, but especially during busy months, it can be slow getting through them. But the kids and I can sit down with picture books over lunch, enjoy 4 or 5 stories all at once in the span of 20 minutes, and I am left feeling like we've accomplished something good together.
I'll leave you with this great quote I found about reading aloud:
"The fire of literacy is created by the emotional sparks between a child, a book, and the person reading. It isn't achieved by the book alone, nor by the child alone, nor by the adult who's reading aloud-it's the relationship winding between all three, bringing them together in easy harmony.”
— Mem Fox
Only around half of the books we've read have made the list thus far, and I expect we'll have at least one more post coming of cozy winter picture books, so stay tuned!
I love Extra Yarn! It's so fun!
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