Skip to main content

Five Faves: Winter Fun

When winter comes, the snowy conditions let us experience fun activities that are unique to this special season. Sledding, ice skating, winter sports, and snowball fights are just a few of the options that open up. You're only limited by your imagination! Need inspiration? Here are some favorite books that can help you decide how to spend these snow-filled days, even if that means just snuggling up with a good winter story.

Written by E. L. Shen
New York: Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2021. Fiction. 265 pages.

Maxine Chen wants to become a figure skating champion, but her dreams are challenged when a new talent moves to her town, alongside becoming the target of bullying.

Written by Paul Harbridge
Illustrated by Matt James
Toronto: Tundra Books, imprint of Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers, 2017. Picture Book.

When the Moon Comes is an ode to a hockey game played by moonlight. Follow this intrepid group of children's journey through back roads, farms, and logging trails to reach the perfect ice on a magical night.

Written by Fran Cannon Slayton
Illustrated by Tracy Bishop
New York, New York: Little Bee Books, 2017. Picture Book.

Written in rhyme, Snowball Moon, follows the story of a brother and sister experiencing all the thrills to be had on a snowy night, including: sledding, building forts, and hot cocoa to finish off the fun!

Written by Linda Booth Sweeney
Illustrated by Jana Christy
New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2017. Picture Book.

Follow along with Grandma as she takes her grandchildren on a snowy adventure. The small joys, like catching snowflakes on your tongue, are highlighted alongside the more everyday realties like pushing stuck cars!

By Alexandra Milton
London: Boxer Books Limited, 2022. Informational. 

Readers will be guided towards becoming wintertime trackers, through clues and beautiful illustrations. Brief, but interesting facts are given on the discovered animals.  Hares, foxes, and deer among several others are featured. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The New Girl

The New Girl By Cassandra Calin New York: Graphix, 2024. Comic. 261 pages. 12-year-old Lia and her family have just moved from Romania to Montreal, and she's doing her best to keep up with the changes. But, she's homesick. She misses the rest of her family, her friends, and her favorite Romanian treats. She doesn't speak French and her English is shaky, which makes it hard to make friends, even in her international immersion class. And she's dealing with super painful menstrual cramps every month. But before long, Lia starts to hit her stride. She befriends the other bilingual girls in her class, she gets a spot as the artist for her school's magazine, and even has a new crush -- Julien. Though she may be the new girl, Lia is starting to fit in. This slice of life graphic novel is an adorable choice for middle grade readers and young teens. Lia is a likable protagonist and readers will have little difficulty relating to her adjustment to school. The text speaks to a...

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...

Five Favorite Aunt and Uncle Books

  Aunt and Uncle Day I discovered a new holiday. Apparently, July 26th is National Aunt and Uncle Day! In order to celebrate this day, I am sharing my five favorite middle grade books that have stellar aunts and uncles. Now, due to a lot of various circumstances, these books have a lot of hard things (death of a parent, parental neglect, and one case of good parents sending their child off to visit an uncle during summer vacation). So, be aware that these titles not only showcase some amazing aunts and uncles, but they also open the door to talk about hard topics.  Closer to Nowhere  By Ellen Hopkins  Putnam’s Sons, 2020.  This book is actually told from two different points of view—Hannah and Cal’s; however, the two protagonists are cousins. Cal comes to live with Hannah’s family and Hannah’s mom—Cal’s aunt—becomes Cal’s support and champion. Cal’s mom died and his dad is in prison. Cal is in a family foster care situation and doesn’t feel like he belongs. Hann...