What Do We Want? WE WANT SNOW: A Wintry Chant by Jamie A. Swenson

"WE WANT SNOW--UP TO OUR ANKLES...,

"SHINS..., KNEES..., AND CHINS!"

The kids are ready; they want the whole nine yards of the snow season.

But so far the winter sky watch has been a bust. Their snow watch is a fluke, for heaven's sake! But, Wait!

"A FLAKE!"

And do the kids get their wish!

They pile on their sleds, dachshunds and all, slipping and sliding down the hill. They make snow forts and have a snowball fight. This is the way to do winter right! Snowmen grow fat and tall with woolly mittens and puffy coats for all. Ice skates and skiis are sure to please. Kids and dogs, and grownups, too, play outside until their noses turn blue.

And then, they have a different thought.

"WE WANT COCOA--PIPING HOT!"

"WITH MARSHMALLOWS--WE WANT A LOT!"

But ... as the wintry days continue and the weather remains windy, dark, and cold... the kids' desire for snow days begins to grow old.

"WHOA! BRRRRRRR! TOO MUCH SNOW!"

"SNOW IN OUR HAIR AND UNDERWEAR...."

And snow keeps coming everywhere.

It seems that there can be ... TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING!

"HOW ABOUT AN EARLY SPRING?"

Jamie A. Swenson's just-in-time chiming, rhyming, loving salute to snowtime, We Want Snow: A Wintry Chant (Sleeping Bear Press, 2021) is a joy to read for kids who can't wait for the white stuff to fall.

Swenson's clever rhyming storytelling, matched to the jolly illustrations of Emilie Boon, make this one an irresistible read-aloud story and a charming performance script for Christmas parties and parent programs, with the winsome warning that it's perhaps good that snowy days and nights, despite their lively delights and charming good cheer, don't last all year!

Poet Percy Shelley's longing got it about right! "If winter comes, can spring be far behind?"

We can only hope so!!

Any Port In The Storm: Cozy by Jan Brett

Cozy was accustomed to being in a herd, surrounded by his whole family. In the coldest winter, the musk oxen always circle round the youngest, their long, silken coats flowing down to their hooves, to keep everyone safe and warm.

But in this storm, Cozy finds himself all alone. Or is he?

"... In a tussock, a mother lemming's pups were squeaking. "I'm cold, I'm cold, I'm cold." She used a triple carry to tunnel toward a new spot ... where they settled next to the towering mountain of fur. "Shhh...." she whispered. "Quiet voices, and that musk ox will never notice us."

Soon a snowshoe hare comes along and begs a spot beneath Cozy's fur. Cozy is glad for the company, and allows him in. But soon a snowy owl, caught in a mighty downdraft of icy wind, crash lands right into Cozy's head. Cozy grants the snowy white bird sanctuary, but knowing her dietary habits, he sets up house rules for his tenants:

"Quiet voices, no thumping, claws to yourself!"

As the frozen winter goes on, Cozy finds himself sheltering many more creatures of all kinds. Arctic fox and wolverine must promise "no biting," but then along comes a sea otter driving a team of sled dogs with a wolfish look about them. Cozy brandished his big horns and gives the whole group an order:

"Be mindful of others!"

But arctic winters are long. Cozy's tenants get restless and his house rules start to slip. One day when the growing lemmings are climbing up his fur, a big patch of it falls out! That means only one thing. It's spring, and it's time for everyone to check out of their winter digs under Cozy's big tent. He sets off to find his herd and is greeted happily by his family. But the departing lemmings have the last word--

"Meet you when the snow flies, Cozy!"

In a novel version of the "There's always room for one more" trope, Jan Brett has brought us one of her sweetly charming snow stories, illustrated beautifully in her trademark style of elaborate frames decorated with hints of what is to come, in her latest picture book, Cozy (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2020). Cozy's generosity is heartwarming, and the case of cabin fever that ensues in this story of "sheltering in place" will ring true to both adults and children waiting for spring through this winter. This is a totally timely tale, told by a master storyteller.  In their insightful review, Kirkus Reviews says, "This moving tale of gentle kindness serves as a clarion call for anyone searching for a book about creating your own community in times of trial."

Wait For It! The Wish Tree by Kyo Maclear

CHARLES WANTED TO FIND A WISH TREE.

HIS BROTHER AND SISTER SAID, "THERE IS NO SUCH THING."

blockquote="">BUT CHARLES SAID, "WHAT DO YOU THINK, BOGGAN?"

AND BOGGAN THOUGHT SURELY THERE WAS SUCH A THING.

Charles follows his sled Boggan through the snowy woods, but none of the snowy trees seem to have any special powers. But Boggan whishhhh-ed along, and Charles sang loudly through the trees....

LA DI DA DI DA DI DAH!

Charles came upon Squirrel struggling to get a trove of nuts home to his home and loaded them on Boggan to take home to store for the winter. Further through the woods they meet up with Beaver, carrying birch branches, one by one, to his lodge. Charles loaded up Boggan, and soon Beaver was all set for the season. Singing his La-Di-Da song, Charles and Boggan slid across the beaver pond.

They didn't meet a wishing tree, but they found Fox trying to bring a bunch of berries home to her babies, so Charles and Boggan pitched in to deliver the goods right to the door of her den. They plucked some mushrooms for a mob of mice. It was nice that the mice were pleased, but Charles was beginning to worry if they would ever find their wish tree.

"WE MAY NEED TO MOVE A LITTLE FASTER, BOGGAN," SAID CHARLES.

It felt late. The shadows seemed darker.

"I CANNOT. SEARCH. ANY. LONGER," SAID CHARLES.

And then he sees it. The silvery Wish Tree.

CHARLES WROTE HIS WISH ON A PIECE OF PAPER AND TIED IT ON THE TREE.

And just beyond the Wish Tree the animals had set up a feast of hazlenut souffle and birch tea and berry biscuits for all.

And Charles sang as Boggan whooshed him all the way back home, in The Wish Tree (Chronicle Books), in Kyo Maclear's lovely snowy day story of kindness returned and wishes fulfilled. Illustrated with minimalist colors, white, blue, and pale pink, by Chris Dunham, there is a quiet magic in the snowy landscape in this wintry story of wish fulfillment.

When The World Grows Quiet....: Ten Ways to Hear Snow by Cathy Camper

WHEN LINA WOKE UP, EVERYTHING WAS QUIET.

It was a different quiet--no sounds of cars, buses, and garbage trucks. The snow had fallen and left the world muffled and so quiet.

But Lina was supposed to help her Grandmother cook her specialty that morning!

SHE BUNDLED UP.

The sunshine reflecting off the snow was twice as bright as usual. But the silence was so deep that it seemed strange.

Then she heard a new sound:

SCRAAAPE! SCRAAAPE!

Mrs. Watson's snow shovel was one way to hear snow!

SNYAK SNYEK SNYUK!

Lina's boots leave behind a series of sounds and waffle prints on the sidewalk.

As Lina walks down the snowy street, she hears other snow sounds. Blobs of snow plop to the ground off snowy branches, skiis go swishy swish through the park. She spots a friend building a snowman with a pat-pat-pat and as she walks on...

THWOMP! HER FRIENDS TOSS A FRIENDLY SNOWBALL HER WAY.

When she arrives at her grandmother's building, she adds to the snow sounds with a STOMP, STOMP, STOMP! of her snow boots.

Inside, Lina finds her Grandmother Sitti waiting and the lamb and rice are done simmering for the filling for the grape leaves. Lina and her grandmother have fun rolling them up into little bundles. Lina held one right under her nose like a bushy mustache.

"WE LOOK LIKE A COUPLA REAL TOUGH GUYS!" LAUGHS GRANDMOTHER SITTI."

Lina hears a dripping sound coming from her thawing mittens.

"THAT'S ANOTHER WAY TO HEAR SNOW," SHE THINKS.

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And that evening Lina opens her window and hears the deep quiet outside, the tenth way to hear snow, in Cathy Camper's lovely snow day story, Ten Ways to Hear Snow (Kikali/Random House, 2020), illustrated in loving and lovely drawings by Kenard Pak, done in soft, "hushed" colors to fit the theme. Camper's sweet story introduces onomatoepoeia to young readers in the distinctive sounds and lack of them in the snowy scene which will tune youngsters' ears to the sounds of silence that snowfall brings. Share this one with Ezra Jack Keats' Caldecott-winning classic,

A Winter's Tale: Once Upon A Winter's Day by Liza Woodruff

MILO WAS LOOKING FOR A STORY, BUT HIS MOTHER WAS BUSY.

"WHY DON'T YOU GO PLAY IN THE SNOW?" SHE ASKED.

MILO DIDN'T WANT TO PLAY IN SNOW. HE WANTED A STORY!

But he dutifully bundled up and, leaving angry, stomping tracks behind him, walked to the bird feeder, where he notices some tiny mouse footprints under it.

WOULD THE MOUSE HAVE A STORY TO TELL?

Intrigued, Milo follows the tracks to a winterberry bush with no berries, but a single feather. Supposing the mouse had eaten all the berries, Milo moved on, raising a flock of cardinals, one of which drops a winterberry, proving that the mouse is not the only one who striped the bush of its summer fruit. Walking into the woods, Milo discovers some cut branches underneath an evergreen where he spots two porcupines happily crunching the hemlock needles. Still tracking the mouse prints, Milo finds a patch of dirt clogs mixed with snow. Something had been digging there, and just ahead he comes upon a group of deer, munching acorns that had been under the snow. Trudging on, Milo spots a slide made by otters, sledding downhill to the creek. Following the mouse trail a little further, Milo comes upon a worrying scene. The mouse tracks end in a patch of disturbed snow and Milo spots a swooping hawk, claws extended, grasping at something scuttling under a tree.

Is that the end of the mouse's story? And then he hears his mother calling him to dinner. DRAT! But then... he happily spots some tiny tracks disappearing down a deep hole.

MILO FOLLOWED HIS TRACKS BACK HOME.

And after supper, his mom finally offers to read him some stories.

MILO SHOOK HIS HEAD. "THIS TIME I HAVE A STORY FOR YOU," HE SAID.

Liza Woodruff's Once Upon a Winter Day (Holiday House, 2020) is a winter's tale, a snowy Sherlock mystery, and a fine nature walk all in one, in which Milo's trek offers much about how animals survive in winter, with a beautifully illustrated happy ending for the deer mouse in a two-page spread showing the mouse trekking through a tunnel and up into a cozy nest in the woodpile. With endpapers that reveal the names of the animals Milo encounters, this story is perfect for preschool and primary grade studies of animal adaptation to the season, with an attentive nature detective as main character. Says Horn Book's starred review, "Words and pictures work together to tell a taut and just-right-for-the-audience suspenseful tale."

The State of Matter Matters! The Luckiest Snowball by Eliot Kreloff

Izzy likes the snow. It's soft. It's cold.

You can pick it up, ... and throw it!

"WAIT! STOP!"

Izzy is immediately frozen in place.  Who is this talking to him?

It's the SNOWBALL!

"If you throw me--BLAM--it's the end of me!"

But Izzy's new friend, SNOWBALL, is fine with making snow angels, snow forts, and a snowman. The two new friends have a great snow play.

But it's getting dark and Izzy has to go home. He takes his special snowball inside to introduce him to his mom as Larry. But it's warm in there! Larry notices that he's about to undergo a strange change of state.

"I'M MELTING!"

Emergency care for melting snowballs calls for time in the freezer, where Larry finds good company among some sweet peas and cool ice cubes.

When spring comes, Izzy takes Larry outside to admire the all the fresh colors of the new season, but... and in a few minutes, Larry is... (you guessed it!)...

MELTING!

Whoops! It's back to the freezer, where Larry and the frozen asparagus spears reminisce about the growing season together. And then... it's summer, and Izzy carefully packs Larry in the cooler for an outing.

Larry enjoys the beach scene until...

HELP!

Izzy rushes Larry back to the freezer just in the nick of slush! Larry refreezes while the frozen blueberries wax sentimental about the day they were picked. And then, finally, it's fall!

Izzy takes Larry outside where the air is cool and the leaves are falling all around. But where did he go? At last the dripping Larry is found under the leaves and re-stashed in the freezer under the wing, so to speak, of a very large frozen turkey.

Then, at last it's winter again, in Eliot Kreloff's The Luckiest Snowball (Holiday House, 2019) It is time for Izzy and Larry to take sled rides together while new snowflakes fall, in Eliot Kreloff's jolly story of the seasons. Winter is where Larry belongs, but human kids get to live and have fun in all four seasons, and Larry the Unlikely playmate stars in comic illustrations of the fun of all the seasons. Author Kreloff includes a brief appendix, explaining the cycle of the seasons and the water cycle as well, from water, to snowflake, to ice to melting water again.

'Snow Doubt About It! I Love You Snow Much by Sandra Magsamen

There's snow one like YOU.

We know that's true.

You are snow special, too!

It's snow secret you are snow bright! And there are snow shortages of endearments and snowy scenes inside for young fingers to follow.

In fact, There's snow chance any little one will not love Sandra Magsamen's I Love You Snow Much Scholastic, 2018), a snow-themed board book with its charming faux applique covers and illustrations, its lively rhymes, and its jolly snowman with his real felt snow cap.

Wintry but warm!

Share this one with its companion book, Magsamen's rhythmic reindeer ride, Our Little Deer (Made With Love).

Snow Time: Snow Globe by Erin Dealey

There's a big storm moving in. A powerful wind rips holiday decorations loose from the lampposts as snowflakes begin to fly.

Lost connections on phones, computers, Bundled, homeward-bound commuters. Traffic slows.

Roads disappear,
beneath the worst storm of the year.

The lights go out, so out come candles for the mantels. A fire in the fireplace warms the room as the family of four picnics on takeout on the floor.

Beside the Christmas tree, Dad builds a blanket tent, and by lantern light reads snow stories to the kids, the kitty, and their dog. One kid shakes their snow globe and wishes for, what else? More snow!

Snow globe wishes,
Snowplows rumble lullabies...

The snow is too deep for cars and school buses to make their way, so everyone has a magical snow day holiday. Snowmen and snowballs, sleds and snow forts, even the grownups get in on the fun. What more could they wish for? Well...

Peace on earth
throughout the year!

In a jolly rhyming snow story that every kid wishes for, Erin Dealey's Snow Globe Wishes (Sleeping Bear Press, 2019) is an idyllic story of a pre-Chistmas snow day where everyone gets an unforeseen but much appreciated holiday. Claire Shorrock adds merry illustrations that reflect good times among everyone in the neighborhood, a happy time-out for the sheer joy of a good snow. This one is an engaging account of a surprise snowstorm that brings holiday cheer and good will to all.

Stage Fright? Snowflake Day! by Becky Friedman, adaptor

TODAY IS SNOWFLAKE DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

"EVERY SNOWFLAKE IS DIFFERENT," SAYS DAD.

"IT'S SNOWING ON SNOWFLAKE DAY," DANIEL SINGS.

Daniel Tiger loves the snow, and he is excited about the decorations down in Enchanted Gardens park. It is a festive scene with music and special food and lots of sparkly lights. There are plenty of people, too, some of the youngest in snowflake costumes.

And then, there's that stage.

Daniel is a bit nervous. He has to get up on that stage with some of the kids in shiny costumes, and he has to say his LINES.

"I'M A SNOWFLAKE, AS SPECIAL AS CAN BE BE.

THERE'S NOBODY ELSE EXACTLY LIKE ME!"

I'M HERE TO SAY... LET'S START THE PLAY!

The pressure is on. Daniel is worried. He's on his mark, center stage. What if he forgets his lines?

And just as they begin the play, the lights go out!

Can Daniel save the Snowflake Day Play? In this new Daniel Tiger tale, Snowflake Day! (Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood) (Simon and Schuster, 2019), based on the popular Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood PBS program, Daniel manages to find a way to light up the stage. Becky Friedman's charming adaptation celebrates self-confidence and self-esteem in a shaped board book with lots of eye appeal and sparkle with a message that everyone is special in their own special way.

Save a place in the Christmas stocking also for Simon and Schuster's seasonal top seller, Merry Christmas, Daniel Tiger!: A Lift-the-Flap Book (Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood).

The Year Without A Snowflake! The Little Snowplow Wishes for Snow by Lora Koehler

The Little Snowplow loved his job on the Mighty Mountain Road Crew. All year long, he helped the other trucks with the digging, pulling, and lifting.

But the Little Snowplow loved plowing snow most of all.

Little Snowplow was proud that last year he alone had been agile enough to dig Dump Truck out of an avalanche of snow, and as his birthday approaches, he longs to distinguish himself again, but as winter comes, there's not a snowflake to be seen on Mighty Mountain.

There's no snow in November, and a dearth of the white stuff in December. January is a bust, snow-wise, and in February, there's not a snowflake to be seen. Then it's March, almost spring and almost time for his birthday. Little Snowplow has done more than his share of mundane fall leaf removal and dreary dirt moving, but he's beginning to despair of heroic snowstorm duty.

His heavy-duty buddies notice his moping and try to cheer him up by suggesting some ice-dancing.

"How about the snowkey-pokey on ice?" suggests Water Truck.

Water Truck sprays down the parking lot and turns it into a ice rink, and all the Mighty Mountain trucks shake their bumpers all about. It's fun, but all the crew admit that it's looking like this year will go down as The Year Without A Snow Storm. Even Dump Truck is down in the dumps.

Still, the Mighty Mountain Road Crew push on with plans for Little Snowplow's birthday party.

But when he woke up on his birthday--

SNOW!

Beep, BEEP, VROOM!

Time to roll! Duty calls, and Little Snowplow cheerily rolls out with his big buddies to keep the streets open, and when the all-clear is declared, it's time to celebrate, in Lora Koehler's The Little Snowplow Wishes for Snow (Candlewick Press, 2019). In this sequel to her 2015 New York Times best-seller, The Little Snowplow (see review here), Koehler and illustrator Jake Parker's comedic characters celebrate the can-do spirit of those classic anthropomorphic mechanized heroes of children's literature, with the subtext that sometimes waiting makes for the coolest surprises.

And for more of the guys who go in the snow, share this one with Elizabeth Verdick's winter winners, Small Walt and Small Walt and Mo the Tow (see reviews here)

Up to Ten and Down Again! One Snowy Day by Diane Murray and Diana Toledano

Spinning and twirling,
They float to the ground.
Millions of snowflakes
Not making a sound.

The house is still sleeping, but the soundless flakes do not go undiscovered. ONE puppy is up, peers outside, and wakes the children with a sharp bark.

TWO sleepy children see the snow covering their trees, and THREE happy faces can be seen in the window.

The kids soon shuck off their pajamas and suit up for  play in the snow, finding their FOUR snow boots by the door.

FIVE pine trees' branches sweep low, and the children spot SIX friends already on the hill, and soon SEVEN sleds are sliding down, leaving EIGHT tracks behind them, and then...

WOOSH!
In a snow bank billow,
Carving NINE snow angels
Swishing in snow.

The kids even let their puppy get into the fun, tossing TEN snowballs for the pup to try to catch.

By this time the youngsters are ready to turn toward home, and it's time to reverse the count, right down to the TWO cups of hot cocoa and ONE perfect snowman, standing tall in the twilight as the soft flakes continue to fall, in One Snowy Day (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2018) by Diane Murray and Diana Toledano. It's a perfect snowy day and a chance to practice counting up and down, along with some delightfully rhyming text and cheery illustrations. With a tip of the hat to Ezra Jack Keats classic story, The Snowy Day, Kirkus Reviews says, "The delights of snow-day snow-play in a small town are enumerated in this early concept book for tots."

'S No Wonder! Babies in the Snow by Ginger Swift

LET'S MEET BABY ANIMALS IN SNOWY PLACES.

Somebody wants to play with the snow foxes!

Could it be Puff and Pearl, the polar bear twins?

What do they see through that hole in the ice?

Who's that? A whole slew of ... narwhales? WOW! Each is a whale of a whale with a unicorn horn!

But what other whales are swimming in those icy waters?

Baby Beluga and Baby Orca!

And who else is that? Baby Walrus is sunning on the ice with Seal Pup!

There's a whole menagerie of Arctic animals to be found if you know where to look--a glossy white ermine and a shaggy musk ox... and even a sleepy little snow owl, in Ginger Swift's little lift-the-flap board book, Babies in the Snow: Lift-a-Flap Board Book (Babies Love) (Cottage Door Press, 2018). Swift's toy-and-movable book introduces animals of the far north for tots to discover. Who's that? Could it be a caribou? Arctic critters are everywhere, even the snow-white Arctic hare, in this little book, illustrated in just-right cool colors so fetchingly by Ariel Silverstein, which is sized for small fingers to explore.

They GO in the Snow! Small Walt and Mo the Tow by Elizabeth Verdick

A bitter blizzard,

A snowbound town!

Get ready, plows!

The lazy, hazy days of summer are gone; the snow is flying, and it's time for Small Walt the little snowplow and Big Gus, his crusty, trusty driver, to bestir themselves and hit the roads, which are now filling up with snow and freezing into ice--fast!

We're Gus and Walt.

We plow and salt.

We clear the snow

So cars can go.

Small Walt is a veteran now, with one big snow already under his fanbelt, and Gus has many a snowy season to boast of, so they proudly push the drifts aside and spread salt to melt the ice as they as they make their way about the town, cheerfully smooshing the slush.

But just ahead they helplessly watch a car swerving on an uncleared road and then...

FWUMP!

The car lurches off the road and down into the snowy woods.

Little Walt realizes that his snow scoop is not up to the job. It's not tough enough to get that car back on the road.

Who you gonna call?

MO THE TOW!

With a humma brumma hum, Mo arrives to scope out the situation.

But Sue, Mo's driver, sees that the ice is too slick. Mo's big tires can't get a grip! Even Mo can't go in icy snow!

What do they need? TEAM WORK!

Gus steers Walt carefully so that he can scoop the snow away and salt the area. And soon the way is open for Sue and Mo the Tow to do their job and get that car back on track!

It's Gus and Walt and Mo and Sue, the winning crew, in Elizabeth Verdick's second book in her series, Small Walt and Mo the Tow (Simon and Schuster, 2018). Ace artist Mark Rosenthall offers up jolly retro anthropomorphic illustrations of the doughty little snowplow who could, even if he sometimes gets by with a little help from his friends. He's a plow and salter who never falters, in a delightful new snow tale of working together. Mo and Walt and Gus and Sue are a trusty team of two vehicles who keep on truckin'. Share this one with Verdick's first Walt story, Small Walt, (read review here) for a pair of snowy day winter winners.

"Three dynamic duos: Gus and Walt; Sue and Mo; Verdick and Rosenthal,” says Kirkus in their starred review.

Lost! Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell

Lost in the snow!

A young girl leaves school just as a snow storm sets in. Head down under her hood, she trudges across a seemingly endless snowfield, until she meets up with a tiny baby wolf, separated from his mother and pack, his little legs sinking deep into the soft new snow. Despite her own obvious struggle with the drifting snowfall, she picks him up and tucks him under her coat and moves on toward her home. The little wolf lets out a small sound.

Howl! Howl!

Then the girl hears an arresting reply:

HOOOOOOOWWLLL! HOOOOOOWWLLL!

Fearfully she looks about. She sees that wolves are approaching her, led by Mama Wolf.

The girl tenderly puts the little wolf down so that his mother can carry him back to his pack.

Stumbling, the girl goes on, desperately slogging forward, leaning against the wind until she collapses in the snow. Suddenly, she is surrounded by the wolves.

The little wolf comes up to her and licks her hand, and the other wolves sit down and begin to howl together around her. But she is not afraid. The wolves' howls are answered by her own dogs! She's almost home!

BARK! BARK!

And no one is lost in the snow at last, in Matthew Cordell's Caldecott Award book, Wolf in the Snow (Feiwel and Friends, 2017), a beautiful story of one good deed deserving another. Cordell's wispy, scratchy illustrations portray the bleak wintry snowscape with a spare loveliness that both reinforces and ameliorates the bleak setting, symbolically warmed by the child's bright red cloak. "It's an almost wordless tale which speaks volumes about kindness. The girl's story is a hero's journey, and Cordell tells it with skill and heart," says Publishers Weekly, in its starred review.

The Ice Age Cometh! The Meltdown: Diary of a Wimpy Kid? by Jeff Kinney

JANUARY: Everybody in my neighborhood is outside today enjoying the warm weather--except ME. It's kind of hard to enjoy a heat wave in the middle of WINTER.

Even though it's warm outside, the thermostat at school still thinks it's WINTER. So the furnace is on full blast all day, which makes it hard to concentrate in class.

If we do figure a way out of this climate mess, it's gonna be someone from MY generation. That's why I'm always nice to the SMART kids, because THEY'RE the ones who are going to save our butts.

But the warm spell stops abruptly. The Ice Age is back, and Greg and his best friend Rowley are back to frozen feet on the walk to and from school.The school bus only goes as far as Lower Surrey Street; both of them live on Upper Surrey; and the kids on Lower Surrey always ambush them if they take the bus. Greg gets the idea of taking the Whirley Street bus halfway home and then cutting across the woods to Upper Surrey Street. But despite their winter mufflers, the Whirley Street kids discover they are interlopers and chase them into the woods, where they meet up with the worst kids of all--the Mingos, who seem to live in the woods all year.

All I knew for sure was that if we stopped running, we'd be DEAD.

Just as it felt like the voices were on TOP of us, we broke through the trees and into the open.

SCREECH! Luckily Dad was paying attention or me and Rowley would've been ROADKILL!

But at least it would have been over QUICK. I'm sure the MINGOS would've take their TIME.

And then it starts snowing--hard--for days. School is called off, and when their moms decree no video games inside, Greg and Rowley decide to build the snow fort to end all snow forts, a veritable medieval redoubt of hand-crafted blocks of snow. But their challenge does not go unnoticed. The Lower Surrey Street army rises to the occasion, followed by the Whirley Street knights. Even the all-girl Safety Patrol and the Mingo family get into the melee'! Let the snowball wars begin!

It's the cold, cold world for the Wimpy Kid, in Jeff Kinney's latest in his mega-popular graphic series of middle school stories, Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Meltdown Book 13 (Amulet Books, 2018). No doubt, Greg Heffley will be ready for the spring thaw and the long-awaited end to this winter of his discontent.

It's a great book to have on hand for the first snow day! Other books (and movies) in the Diary of A Wimpy Kid series can be found here.

Snow Job! Small Walt by Elizabeth Verdick

BRRRR! The night air is cold and wet.

The city plows stand staunchly in a row, ready to fight the snow.

And in that doughty cadre is the smallest of all, Little Walt, new to the fleet and yet to prove his mettle against the snowfalls of winter. But he's ready to go, and when Gus, his driver, goes through the fitness checklist, he finds Little Walt's plugs are sparking with the best of them and his salt loader is filled to the brim.

The other drivers spurn Little Walt as too puny for the expected big storm, so Gus offers to take the little guy out for his trial run.

"Try to keep up, Small Stuff," Hank honks from the controls of the biggest plow.

"Grrrr!" Walt's engine growls.

Gus steers Walt into all the tight places where the big boys cannot go. The bridge is icy and the ramps are dicey, but Walt proves his mettle as he clears and salts.

Scraaaaatch, scraaaaape!

Little Walt scatters the salt, and as the job turns into an all-nighter, he soldiers on through slush and muck!

"Don't get stuck!" Gus warns.

And then they come to The Hill. Gus opines that the drifts are the biggest he's ever seen. Can Little Walt plow all the way up that high, high hill, and even if he does ...

... there's that downside of the big hill. To Little Walt it looks like an Olympic ski jump. Even Gus considers calling a halt. Should they stop at the top? Should a plow and salter ever falter?

But Walt stays to steer the course and pass his trial by ice, in Elizabeth Verdick's Small Walt (Simon and Schuster, 2017), and he wins his own blue ribbon (Gus's blue scarf) on their triumphant return and secures an honored place in the fleet. Author Verdick makes good use of occasional rhyme, alliterative language, and plenty of funny onomatopoetic engine sounds to lend tension and drama to her narrative, and artist Marc Rosenthal generates plenty of identification for young readers with his anthropomorphic machines, especially Walt, the little guy who goes up against the big boys and holds his own with gumption and grit. Rosenthal's cozy, colored-pencil illustrations have the charming retro revival look of books in the style of Watty Piper's The Little Engine That Could (Original Classic Edition) and recent books such as Rinker's Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site and Dewdney's Little Excavator.

Although the basic tale of the little big machine that could is a a well-plowed story premise, Verdick and Rosenthal show that there's still a place for the youngster to prove that he or she can do big things. Determined and lovable, Little Walt shares literary parking space with Hardy Gramatsky's Little Toot and Virginia Lee Burton's Katy the snow plow and Mike Mulligan's steam shovel, and, oh yes, Watty Piper's little steam engine that could, too, in a new read-aloud for the snowy season. And like that classic steam shovel with lots of heart, here, too, there's that heart-warming loyalty between man and machine that manages to move and melt even the snow and ice of winter.

There's always room for one more little storybook hero who perseveres, and Booklist says, ... "libraries should make room for this one, too. It's really the story of a little guy who gets a tough job done, and little children will root for him all the way."

Snow Stroll: Walking in a Winter Wonderland Lyrics by Richard B. Smith as recorded by Peggy Lee

Sleigh bells ring--Are you listening?

In the lane,
Snow is glistening.

A beautiful sight,
We're happy tonight.
Walking in a winter wonderland.

Three happy kids and their parents make the best of new-fallen snow, as they sally forth for a twilight stroll in this salute to winter, based on Peggy Lee's classic up-tempo ballad, Walking in a Winter Wonderland (Henry Holt and Company, 2016). With the original lyrics by Richard B, Smith, artist Tom Hopgood takes the song into a new medium, proffering lovely, impressionistic pastel and crayon illustrations on full-bleed double-page spreads, with the focus on family fun and woodland creatures. The artist sets his scenes in varied soft shades of blue, punctuated by bright touches of color in the children's winter garb, the red-orange fox, and the scattered accent of musical notes which remind us that these words are meant to be sung.

Foxes, squirrels, a snowy owl and several deer appear to go along as the wintry-wrapped kids throw some snowballs, take a turn sledding, and even share a warming campfire.

And of course, they build a snowman.

In the meadow we can build a snowman,
And pretend that he's a circus clown.

As poet Robert Frost put it, the family happily "watches the woods fill up with snow," ending with the sight of a beautiful bare tree bedecked with silvery ice crystals against a black sky. As Kirkus Reviews sums it up, "Both text and pictures cohere into utter cheerfulness, sure to get anybody singing along."

Artist Hopgood is also the notable illustrator of What a Wonderful World, celebrating Louis Armstrong's famous song, and Wow! Said the Owl.

Can Wishes Come True? Before Morning by Joyce Sidman

In the deep woolen dark

As we slumber unknowing,

Let the sky fill with flurry and flight,

Let the air turn to feathers.

As autumn leaves drift down to the cobblestone walk through the park, a mother and little girl cross the park and a busy city street, the dog on his leash stopping to look longingly at a squirrel. The child, too, hesitates hopefully before the cupcakes in the window of a bakery, but Mom presses on toward their front door, where inside Dad has dinner on the table for the three of them.

Then Mom, dressed in the uniform of an airline pilot, reads from a book about Amelia Earhart and hugs the girl goodnight.

After a few chores, with the child and cat asleep and Dad dozing in his chair, Mom steals out, pulling her bags behind her, as outside the chill air fills with the snowflakes. Sugary white snow begins to cover the park and give its statues and lampposts caps like little iced cakes.

At the airport flights are already being cancelled, and the disappointed travelers huddle beside their luggage as the waiting jets are grounded.

Urgent plans founder...

Please--just this once--

Mom's wish comes true, and she waves down a snow-plowing truck and hitches a ride back home through a snowbound city. And when the girl awakes in the morning, Mom is there, and there is before them an easy-going snow day... a delightful day for a leisurely breakfast, sledding in the park, and--hooray! the bakery is open, promising cupcakes with their hot cocoa back home.

Who hasn't wished for the blessing of a snow day, a surprise holiday, and this child's unspoken wish comes true, in Joyce Sidman's lovely latest, Before Morning (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016).

What happens when a Newbery author and a Caldecott artist come together? A perfect picture book, one in which poetry and artwork blend seamlessly to create an enchanting experience for young readers. Sidman's text is spare, each word carefully chosen to let Beth Krommes' strong illustrations, many in double-page spreads, fill out the details which tell the story. While father and child hug at the table where a fat roasted chicken and latticed pie await, Mom ruefully gets together her uniform and travel bags for her too-soon departure. In the sleeping house she takes a moment to fold the family laundry before she slips out to go out to work. Krommes' cross-hatched scratchboard illustrations give substance to the story, her intricately feathered flight of sky-borne geese foreshadowing the job Mom hurries to do.

With a narration that evokes longing and illustrations that invite slow, careful scrutiny, this superb picture book captures a happy moment in the life of a family that is both familiar and emotionally satisfying. Starred reviews all around promise potential for attention to this one as book award time rolls around.