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A Good Read: The best winter tales for kids

Winter is just around the corner, with the late-fall weather bringing showery days and snow-covered mountains.
books

Winter is just around the corner, with the late-fall weather bringing showery days and snow-covered mountains. For long, dark December evenings or cold, rainy February afternoons, opening up a good book is an indoor activity children love.

In the spirit of the winter months to come, here are a few seasonal suggestions that your youngsters with ask for over again:

If you’re getting comfy on the couch under a warm winter blanket, this is the perfect book to read. Winter is the Warmest Season by Lauren Stringer is my favourite cozy winter children’s book. It’s written from the point of view of a little boy who describes all the things that happen to warm the winter season: “Hats grow earflaps,” “cats sit on laps” and “pyjamas will grow big, warm feet.” Reading this book always makes me feel as though I am at home, sitting in front of the fire with a mug of hot chocolate.

Winter Lights: A Season in Poems and Quilts by Anna Grossnickle Hines is for both the young and young at heart. The poems in this book capture not only the magic of winter but include poetry about Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and Chinese New Year. What makes this book so special is that the author created a handmade quilt that tells about each poem in the book. The result is 28 pages of amazing artwork that took the author hundreds of hours to complete. This book would make a great gift for children and the quilter on your list.

With its shorter days and frosty nights, winter signals that it’s here. This is the time to sleep longer and spend more of our hours indoors. Fireside Stories: Tales for a Winter’s Eve by Caitlin Matthews is filled with eight stories for the cold season. Based on folklore from around the world, these tales will express to children the unique meaning of the winter months.

The holidays wouldn’t be complete without Christmas crafts and baking. Children love to participate by helping in the kitchen and decorating the tree. If you’re looking for creative ideas for what you can do with your child, Fun Christmas Crafts to Make and Bake: Over 60 Festive Projects to Make with your Kids by Annie Rigg is a great place to start. The activities range in level of difficulty, making it a great choice for children of all ages to use their imagination. My favourites to try are the tasty marshmallow snowmen and colourful potato print wrapping paper.

An excellent book for exploring the winter season is Wonderful Winter: All Kinds of Winter Facts and Fun by Bruce Goldstone. Kids can learn how different animals survive throughout the winter, why the days are shorter and how every snowflake is unique. The book includes simple wintery crafts — like how to make fake snow. The little scientist in your family will spend hours examining this book.

My list of children’s books would not be complete without one by Karma Wilson. She is the author of a series about a bear and his friends in the forest. Her holiday book, Bear Stays up for Christmas, has become a classic. This story is about bear’s friends trying to keep him awake until Christmas, when he really needs to be hibernating.

It’s hard not to fall in love with this little band of woodland creatures and the adventures they have.

If any of these books don’t appear under your Christmas tree this year, remember you can always drop by the library to borrow them. Happy Holidays!

A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published on Wednesdays. Anna Loster works at Terry Fox Library in Port Coquitlam.