Danger at the Door?: Who Goes There? by Karma Wilson

"MY NEST IS WARM," SQUEAKED LEWIS. "MY NEST IS COZY, BUT SOMETHING IS MISSING."

WHAT COULD IT BE?

His nest is cozy. Wooden chairs with plump blue cushions are pulled up to his little table, and a folksy green china cabinet shows off his white dishes with blue flowers. There are acorns and a few pumpkins and squash on hand for the winter, and a sturdy cask lid forms a stout wooden door to keep him safe inside his hollow-tree home. What's missing?

Well, it certainly isn't the slightly sinister noise that Lewis suddenly hears outside.

SCRITCH SCRATCH TAP TAP TAP!

Lewis is a doughty and manly mouse, but the noise was sudden and it was scary. Lewis shivers, but he puts on a brave front and shouts right back:

"WHO GOES THERE?

It's quiet for a moment, and then he hears it again, even louder and closer. Could it be a hunting owl? A hungry marauding bear? Some sneaky, creepy cat?

Lewis screws up his courage, He lights his lantern, opens his door, and peers into the darkness. Whatever it is doesn't show itself. Growing angry, he bellows as loudly as he can, "WHO GOES THERE?"

Then he hears a small voice, a voice small enough to be another mouse.

"YOU'RE NOT SO SCARY!"

Lewis meets his next-door neighbor, named Joy, and his nest suddenly seems complete in Karma Wilson's newest, Who Goes There? (Margaret K. Elderry Books, 2013). Wilson, best-selling author of the Bear Snores On books, knows how to build the tension with each suspicious scritch-scratch in this comforting re-working of the "danger at the door" premise, and artist Anna Currey's charming but nervous little Lewis can't quite settle down for a long winter's nap until his mystery is solved. Storyline and illustration style blend seamlessly in this story of friendship found when least expected. As School Library Journal sums it up succinctly, "While steady tension pulls the story forward, it’s really more of a showcase for Currey’s handsome watercolor-and-ink drawings, which portray both actual nature and anthropomorphized animal life in the classic British style."

'S No Fun? Winter Is For Snow by Robert Neubecker

WINTER IS WONDERFUL.
WINTER IS FOR SNOW!

Big brother is a world class snow enthusiast. Waking up and seeing the snow covering the town sets him off into a frenzy of suiting up for a day in the snow.

His sister? Not so much.

WINTER IS COLD AND DAMP.
IT MUST BE TEN BELOW!

LEAVE ME ALONE!

Sis's idea of a snow day is no day in the snow, a day to stay inside with her iPad and central heating! It's almost a snow impasse, but big brother's passion gradually coaxes his sister into parka, mittens, and boots. He sweetens the deal by giving her a ride down the snowy street on his toboggan as he points out the glories of snow and rhapsodizes about the fun they are going to have.

WINTER IS FOR SNOWBALL FIGHTS,
FOR SLEDDING DOWN THE HILLS.
WINTER IS FOR SKATING RINGS
AND SPEEDY CHILLY THRILLS.

Sis grudgingly sits on the sled, but she still has to voice her opinion.

I'D RATHER WATCH A SHOW!

But winter works its wonders even on this snow resistor as the two reach the park and join the other kids in the fun of a day of snow play. Sis takes her turn sledding down the hill, building a snow fort, socking her brother with a snowball, and catching snowflakes on her tongue with delight, finally agreeing that snow's not so bad after all. Winter is for snow, and the two stick it out until it begins to get dark in the park, in Robert Neubecker's Winter Is for Snow (Hyperion, 2013).

Neubecker's homey cityscape filling up with snow appears somehow appealingly warm and inviting, despite his little sister's nay-saying, and the author's page design sets up a humorous bit of sibling rivalry by setting the dialog in different colors. It is a nice twist on the snowy day theme which gives snow lovers and snow avoiders their say and ends, as should all snowy day sagas, with hot chocolate and a warm and cozy window with snow continuing to come down outside. Even the book's cover, with its textured, sparkly flakes, makes the case for snow. School Library Journal calls this one a "simple, rhythmic paean to a city snowfall."

'S No Time to Shiver! If It's Snowy and You Know It, Clap Your Paws! by Kim Norman

IF IT'S SNOWY AND YOU KNOW IT, CLAP YOUR PAWS.

YOU CAN TUMBLE ON THE TUNDRA JUST BECAUSE....

IF IT'S SNOWY AND YOU KNOW IT,

ROLL A SNOWBALL AND THROW IT!

IF IT'S SNOWY AND YOU KNOW IT, CLAP YOUR PAWS!

In rollicking rhythm and rhyme, an unlikely group of diverse animals gather together on a snowy shore to enjoy a sunny snow day. Their fur gets full of flurries, they outline snow angels in their own shapes, ski in tandem down the slopes, and sculpt awesome snow animals all around.

IF IT'S FROSTY AND YOU'RE FREEZING, BUILD A FORT!

LEAVE ROOM FOR ALL YOUR BUDDIES, TALL AND SHORT!

In her newest, If It's Snowy and You Know It, Clap Your Paws! (Sterling, 2013), author Kim Norman adapts the familiar five-line-stanza urban folk song to wintry weather, using all the good stuff of versification--wordplay, alliteration, and a merry meter. Her story in rhyme carries the snow-loving pals through a day of snow play--building snowmen and snow forts, skiing, floating on ice floes (and getting a bump back to shore from a passing beluga whale), singing around their bonfire, and sharing tasty treats--until they slowly grow sleepy and drift inside for some quiet time before bedtime:

IF IT'S SLEETING AND YOU'RE SLEEPY, CLIMB IN BED.

TUCK YOU TAILS AND PAWS AND FINS UNDER THE SPREAD....

Liza Woodruff's colored pencil and watercolored illustrations are picture perfect, with her hyperactive animal actors playing and socializing all over the snowscape, giving this story plenty of page appeal, but the bouncy meter of the verse provides the ear candy which will encourage kids to clap and sing along as well, lending itself to many venues--car rides, field trip bus rides, class programs, circle games indoors or out, and simple storytime readalouds. Clap your hands to welcome to a rousing new classic for the winter snow bookshelf!

For a snow day duo, pair Norman and Woodruff's latest with their sister snow story, Ten on the Sled.

Whose Woods These Are...: When It Snows by Richard Collingridge

WHEN IT SNOWS... ALL THE CARS AND TRUCKS AND TRAINS DISAPPEAR.

SO I FOLLOW THE FOOTPRINTS UNTIL I FIND A NEW WAY TO GET AROUND.

A young boy, bundled up and taking his Teddy out to explore the snow, wonders at the drifted-over shapes that have turned all those vehicles into immobile mounds of white. Then he spots some unknown but intriguing footprints on the city sidewalks and begins to follow.

Thus far, Richard Collingridge's lovely When It Snows (Feiwel & Friends, 2013) might be just a cityscaped reconceptualization of Ezra Jack Keats' classic The Snowy Day, as a young child experiences the wondrous changes of a first snowfall.

But when this boy follows those mysterious footprints into unknown territory, we know we're not in Kansas anymore. This is a wholly different snow scene, as the source of the tracks turns out to be a polar bear who gives the boy a ride to a place where a very tall snowman beckons, and a bright light leads him into a dark evergreen forest. And there he meets the Queen of the Poles, sumptuously robed in regal furs, who brings forth such sights as glowing fairies, a multitude of elves, and a team of giant reindeer who cluster around a rather familiar-looking sleigh.

Is it that this boy possesses great powers of imagination, or could this place already exist, somewhere contained within a familiar cover? Lest kids wonder how to access this winter wonderland, the answer lies in an ending which may not surprise adults reading aloud but may be a revelation of sorts for youngsters. Collingridge's illustrations allow the eye to luxuriate in the loveliness of soft snowfall, the coziness of the child's own room at last, and plenty of room for dreaming of winter-time adventures.

Publishers Weekly puts it glowingly, "Newcomer Collingridge’s paintings are sumptuous and absorbing, creating a genuine sense of magic."

In the Bleak Midwinter: A Flower in the Snow by Tracey Corderoy

IN AN ICY KINGDOM FAR AWAY LIVED A LITTLE GIRL NAMED LUNA.

LUNA LOVED TO CATCH SNOWFLAKES ON HER TONGUE, OR LEAVE LITTLE TIPPYTOE PATTERNS EVERYWHERE.

BUT THERE WAS ONE THING SHE LOVED MORE THAT ALL THIS.

HE WAS BIG AND SOFT AND CUDDLY AND WAS LUNA'S BEST FRIEND.

Luna and Bear share everything, even a case of the sniffles, for which they retreat to Luna's igloo to convalesce under her little plaid blankie.

But then one day Bear finds a beautiful golden flower blooming in the snow and picks it as a gift for Luna. Luna names it her "sunshine flower" and is thrilled with its warm color, but as all blooms do, finally it fades and droops. Luna is sad.

LUNA'S SPARKLY SMILE DISAPPEARED.

Determined to find Luna another such flower to rekindle her sparkling eyes and smile, Bear sets forth into the lands beyond his icy kingdom. He searches the world over without finding the equal of Luna's beloved sunshine flower.

Back at home Luna looks at the moon each night and longs for her best friend. She misses the flower, yes, but she realizes that she misses her Bear more. What can she do to make him return?

But when the footsore and dejected Bear returns, he finds that Luna has found a way to grow her golden flower from the seeds of his gift, and it lights the Arctic dusk like a beacon for Bear.

Tracey Corderoy's just-published wintry tale, A Flower in the Snow (Jabberwocky, 2012) uses the symbol of the golden bloom to frame the importance of love and loyalty well, but it is Sophie Allsopp's lovely illustrations which gives this fantasy parable substance through the warmth of her big, round Bear and little Luna in her enveloping parka and furry boots. The landscape and background are snow-white, with the artist's subtle use of color  evoking the warmth of friendship. A quiet tale for just the right quiet moments with just the right child.

Vive La Difference: No Two Alike by Keith Baker

NO TWO SNOWFLAKES ARE ALIKE.

ALMOST, ALMOST,

BUT NOT QUITE.

Two playful young birds frolic through a wintry landscape, superficially the same in its ubiquitous covering of white snow, but filled with things that are each unique within their similarity--nests, leaves, trees, forests, foxes, fences, even the two little playmates themselves.

AMONG US ALL! ARE WE THE SAME--JUST ALIKE?

Listening preschoolers will be chiming in with the rhyming response evoked all the way through the text, "Almost, almost, but not quite." in Keith Baker's No Two Alike (Beach Lane Books, 2011). A quietly humorous book, in which the two mischievous little birds play at making things different, knocking snow caps off of fence posts and pecking out snowflake patterns in brown oak leaves, their red plumage and jaunty mobility a standout difference in the sameness of the snowscape done up in digital media that somehow is both soothing and cozy.

But even the two protagonists have a difference in their plumage, as we see when two of their tail feathers float down, one all red, one with a telltale black spot at the base, almost, but not quite alike. Baker uses what appear to be photos of real objects, such as a red toboggan cap, set against the smooth whiteness of his winter woodland landscape, as he works in his simple but telling text into the theme of differences between things that are at root two of a kind.

A great book for those seasonal concept units dealing with snow and winter with a quiet message that there is order in our similarities and beauty in our differences. As Booklist's reviewer summarizes it all: "Baker’s seamless combination of well-worded rhymes, evocative landscapes, and playful protagonists make this a standout title for reading aloud, especially in winter."

State of the Nation: Gooney Bird on the Map by Lois Lowry

"Mrs. Pidgeon" It was Gooney Bird.

"Yes?"

"Remember I had an idea starting, and it was just in small pieces? Well, I've put it together. It's a completely ready idea now."

The second-graders all grinned with excitement. They always did when Gooney Bird Greene had an idea.

It's February. Snow covers the playground and freezes hard every night, and the class is restive with the February Can't-Wait-Till-Vacation blues. But this class has two special assets--Gooney Bird's lively ideas and Mrs. Pidgeon's inventive teaching strategies--to keep them on their toes.

Mrs. Pidgeon is the queen of seize-the-teachable moment, and when Gooney Bird points out that President William Henry Harrison (who, Gooney points out, also had a February birthday) only lived for one month into his term and deserves a moment of silence, Mrs. Pidgeon jumps on the chance to observe frequent Moments of Silence with her talkative class. And when Beanie, Barry, and Ben keeps bragging about their exciting February break trips to a Vermont ski lodge, a Hawaiian resort, and Disney World, she has them pull out their dictionaries and look up the word "gloating." Then she pulls down the big map of the United States and helps them locate Vermont, Florida, and Hawaii. But when the rest of the class admits that they are spending their February break at home in Watertower, the staycationers grow even glummer. "It's a bummer," Tyrone says and offers to write yet another rap song about the problem.

But Gooney Bird has a better idea. She makes a quick visit to Principal Leroy's office to get clearance for her plan and mysteriously passes out pieces of the U.S. map jigsaw puzzle to the students. Keiko gets Kansas and Kentucky, Tyrone gets Texas, Tricia gets Tennessee, Nicholas hits the jackpot with Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and North Dakota, and when the 50 states are passed out, it just so happens that Beanie, Barry, and Ben are the only ones without a state of their own. Their gloats are now definitely on hold.

But Gooney Bird's plan is far grander than just giving the gloaters their comeuppance. Before they know it, the custodian and Mrs. Pidgeon have laid out a large map of the U.S. in the snow with spray paint and each child is assigned to do a research report in the library with a little-known fact about their state, and before the state-less trio can start to complain, they are given the job of narrators for a school program showing off the group's knowledge at a performance on the last day before the break.

Two-time Newbery author Lois Lowry is in fine form in this, her fifth book in her best-selling Gooney Bird series, this one aptly titled Gooney Bird on the Map (Houghton Mifflin, 2011). Again illustrated with Middy Thomas' full- and half-page pencil illustrations, this latest, forthcoming this month, is bound to be a timely mid-winter read-aloud or beginning chapter read for fans of Gooney Bird Greene and her lively classmates.

"Twenty Degrees and a Hockey Game's On:" A Winter's Tail (Martha Speaks) by Susan Meddaugh

IN THE HEAT OF JULY
IT'S HARD TO SEE WHY
WE'D READ A STORY OF ICY TRAVAIL.

BUT MONTHS WILL FLY BY,
AND SNOWFLAKES WILL FLY.
SO HERE'S, STARRING MARTHA, A WINTER'S TAIL.

Martha and her friends were watching the hockey playoffs.

"Go, team," yelled Carolina. Then she noticed Skits cowering nearby. "I think my cheering scared your dog," she said.

"Skits isn't afraid of cheering. He's afraid of hockey pucks," Martha told her.

Why, you may ask, would a big shaggy dog have a phobia of--hockey pucks?

Well, as Helen tells the story, it all goes back to when Skits was just a puppy. Even then he has small fondness for snow and ice, and when the gang decides to head out to the (mostly) frozen Dog Head Lake for a pick-up hockey game, Skits refuses to come along. Finally, Helen tosses his favorite chewy toy out into the snowy yard, and Skits finally takes the snowy plunge to get Mr. Chewy and follows the kids to the pond.

Ronald carefully marks off the limits of the safe ice, and the game is soon underway, with Martha and Skitsy as spectators, when suddenly things take a dangerous turn. As the puck slides by enticingly, Skitsy hits the ice and gives chase--right onto the thin ice in the deepest end of Dog Head Lake. The ice begins to crack all around him, and little Skits is frozen with fear. Can Martha come up with a way to get him to safety?

Forthcoming October 4, Meddaugh's seasonal story, Martha Speaks: A Winter's Tail (Houghton Mifflin, 2011), explains another Skits mystery to new friend Carolina:

""And ever since then," Helen concludes, "Skits has been afraid of hockey pucks."

"That doesn't make sense," Carolina said, scratching her head. "He should be afraid of thin ice."

"Well, it comes in handy," Helen smiled, (motioning toward a hockey puck strategically placed on top the trash bin lid.) "Now we have a great way to keep him out of the garbage."

Snow Avatars: Mouse and Mole: A Winter Wonderland by Wong Herbert Yee

"OPEN UP, MOLE. IT'S ME, MOUSE," CALLED MOUSE.

"RAT!" MUTTERED MOLE. HE ROLLED OUT OF BED LIKE A COCOON, STILL WRAPPED IN HIS BLANKETS....

HE OPENED THE DOOR A CRACK--WHOOOSH! A GUST OF FROSTY AIR NIPPED HIS SNOUT.

"MORNING, MOLE!" SAID MOUSE.

"MORNING, MOUSE," GRUMPED MOLE.
"WHATEVER ARE YOU DOING OUT ON A DAY LIKE THIS?"

Mouse can't wait to sled and skate in the new-fallen snow. To her it is a winter wonderland of trees trimmed with icicles and bushes frosted like cupcakes.

But for Mole it's no dice on the ice! Mole crabbily warns her that she will turn into a mouse-cicle if she is crazy enough to wander around in that frosty wonderland and grumps off to bed again. But Mouse has new boots and a warm coat, and she forges on to fly down the hills and glide over the ice all by herself.

Still, it's lonely without Mole, so she builds a snowman and christens him Sno-Mole. Sneaking back into the snoozing Mole's entryway closet, she chooses one of his warm hats, a scarf, and a pair of mittens, and with a long, pointy icicle for a nose, her Sno-Mole is soon a frosty likeness of Mole himself. With her new snow-friend in tow on her sled, she gives him a tour of her winter wonderland.

Back at home, Mole awakens at last. Bored with his bed, he sneaks a peak outside to see if Mouse is still around. In the distance he spots her skating on the pond and giving a smiling stranger a nice ride on the sled behind her. Mole is suddenly jealous.

"THAT IS NO STRANGER!" HE GULPED.

"MOUSE IS WITH A FRIEND...

AND THAT FRIEND IS NOT ME!"

But best friends have a way of working out such problems, and in Wong Herbert Yee's newest title Mouse and Mole, A Winter Wonderland (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2010) Mole decides that two can play that game, and when Sno-Mouse meets Sno-Mole, it's a friendship just made for a winter wonderland. Author-illustrator Yee has created another cozy seasonal tale of the hyperactive mouse and the sleepy, slow mole, two unlikely friends who find fun and friendship in each addition to the Mouse and Mole series. The author's artwork has a certain quaint appeal, and his homey odd couple stories, reminiscent of Arnold Lobel's classic Frog and Toad series, are just right for the early beginning chapter book reader.

Previous titles in this series are Upstairs Mouse, Downstairs Mole paperback (Mouse and Mole), Abracadabra! Magic with Mouse and Mole, A Brand-New Day with Mouse and Mole (A Mouse and Mole Story), and Mouse and Mole, Fine Feathered Friends.

The Waddler Who Wintered Over: Duck at the Door by Janet Urbanovic

Jackie Urbanovic's ebullient Duck at the Door starts the fun right on the title page, which shows a weary, wayworn wanderer of a little mallard trudging, head down, through the deep and driving blizzard, a dollop of snow on his head.
This duck, it seems, has been channeling the grasshopper in the old Aesop's fable, floating lazily back at the lovely pond while his more diligent flock members are flapping up the migratory flyways. Now, with snow blowing and no Wellingtons on his little webbed feet, he's looking for a home for the winter.

This duck is in luck. The door he knocks upon is opened by Irene, a pleasant middle-aged woman who apparently loves animals, since the door opens to a cozy, fire lit living room which she shares with a menagerie of animals, ranging from St. Bernard Brody to parakeet BeBe, with at least 4 cats, a hare, a parrot, and three more dogs.

"My name is Max, says the duck. "I though I'd love winter, but it turned out to be cold and very lonely."

"Winter isn't so bad when you have a warm home," Irene says, hospitably bringing Max in and holding the frozen little mallard close.

Max adapts well to group life, hogging the easy chair, television and remote, much to the exasperation of the other pets. By February Max even becomes an amateur chef, chopping and sauteing right along with the cable cooking show gurus. By March, he's made himself totally at home, swan-diving off Irene's head into her bubble bath with his flock of rubber duckies.

In fact, Max takes up a lot of space--his own and everyone else's personal space, it seems. The dogs are tired of watching Max's endless reruns on TV; Dakota, Coco, and Jesse Bear the cats are tired of eating his Tofu Surprise and poor old Brody is just plain tired of sharing his doggy bed with Max. "Someone has to talk to Max," they all think, looking meaningfully at Irene.

But hark! Are those quacks we hear? Irene is saved by the flock--the return of Max's flock, which has him out the door and off to the pond in two shakes of his tail feathers, leaving Irene holding his chef's hat and Brody riding herd on his rubber duckies. The residents spread out gratefully as a tofu-free silence falls pleasantly over the house.

But soon, it seems, Max is missed by all. It's cat food, cat food, cat food every day for the cats, and with no one to fight with over the remote, watching TV isn't a thrill for the dogs. Brody is reduced to brooding over a single mallard feather left behind in his beloved dog bed.

Just when things are looking dismal for Irene and her menagerie, there's a knock on the door. "Max!" they all cry, and throw the door open, only to find the prodigal duck and his entire flock ready to move in for the whole winter. All Irene can say is "Welcome Home!"

Urbanovic's illustrations for Duck at the Door are simply hilarious, with the faces of Irene and her pet posse telling the story of the mallard home invasion with subtle humor. A great read-aloud for groups or one child, this one is bound to take its place as a standard seasonal story for the picture book crowd.