I'm loading up on reading "winter" themed books for storytime planning. Heck, it's winter right now so I use that as inspiration ;)

Kevin Henkes has illustrated a very nice picture book about winter. How winter can be hard and soft. How it can be both inside and outside. Sensing an opposites trend? And of course, the book ends with winter slowly fading away into spring.

Yes, it is predictable. BUT I love this for a storytime. The pages have a lot of other details on the page that you can ask children to point out. It's short, sweet, and to the point. ( )

Calm, quiet grayish pictures depict all the different activities people do when it’s winter. Then slowly, the gray gives way to bright, sunny spring. The words (just the right amount) are descriptive and poetic…”and sticking to the trees in clumps and curls. Winter is reaching through the branches and crouching in doorways “ This is a book that would be a nice read-aloud or use when talking about the seasons with little ones. I would recommend all of Kevin Henkes’ books. ( )

I love the illustrations provided in this book because it really helps tell the story. The book discusses the qualities of winter and how it is everywhere, and then gets smaller and smaller until it is eventually spring. I love how the cover pages change from winter to spring as well. ( )

The perfect prequel to When Spring Comes, Winter is Here starts with a snowy scene ("Winter is here. It's everywhere") and ends with winter shrinking away "bit by bit" and making way for spring. As with When Spring Comes, there is gentle humor, and beautiful observations ("The leaves underneath [the ice] are like stars in glass"). ( )

This is a brand new book perfect for winter, but I haven't read it yet.