The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg, is probably the first thing that comes to mind when I think "classic Christmas picture book." I grew up with this book's quiet imagery of light and shadows, and was captivated by the mysterious nature of this train that just shows up at a boy's door on Christmas Eve.

Even after years of knowing how the story goes, I still feel the disappointment in the boy's voice as he talks of losing his present, and his relief at receiving it again the next day.

While I enjoyed the music in the movie adaptation, I don't think it did the book justice -- the book really captures the wonder and anticipation of Christmas, as well as the sadness of loss and the joy of rediscovery.

Scrounged From: A Christmas present when I was two years old

Format: Hardcover
Author/Illustrator: Chris Van Allsburg
Pages: 32
Content Advisory: None

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The Mitten was my introduction to Jan Brett. I love all of her warm, detailed illustrations. In this story (which relies on a bit of imagination), a mitten is lost and one animal after another decides it would be a nice place to get warm -- even a large bear! We have this in board book form, and both kids enjoy it.

How could I not include The Snowy Day? This classic by Ezra Jack Keats won the Caldecott Medal in 1963, and continues to capture the joy of discovery in a landscape of newly fallen snow. As fun as Peter's explorations are, I can totally relate to the part where he sits in the tub afterwards and thinks about his adventures. Peter is a curious, thoughtful child, and I love how after his experiences on the first day, he decides to go out again -- this time sharing it with a friend.

Katy and the Big Snow is my favorite of Virginia Lee Burton's picture books. Not just because I live in a land of much snow and plow trucks become ubiquitous round about December, but also because it seems most books about big machinery and "hard work" tend to feature male characters, and so it's wonderful to see an exception. Katy just goes and goes... she has a no-nonsense "get it done" attitude and many New Englanders can relate to the need for that during the winter.

For a look at what animals do during the winter, Over and Under the Snow (by Kate Messner) features a parent and child skiing through the woods as the framing for introducing young readers to the "secret kingdom under the snow." See my full review here.

Shelter is a beautifully illustratred story of woodland animals preparing for a winter storm (originally written in French by Celine Claire). When strangers come through their neighborhood asking for shelter, will they receive compassion, or not? See my full review here.

Anyone who's lived in New England for more than a few years will be able to tell you about "that" storm. It may not be the same one for everyone, depending on which state or region they're in and how long they've lived there, but of all our storm stories, we'll all have one that stands out from the rest. Mine is The Ice Storm of '98, when we lost power for a week and had to go live with my grandparents because they had a woodstove. 

For John Rocco, who grew up in Rhode Island, "that" storm was "the infamous blizzard of '78" which dropped forty inches of snow on parts of New England, complete with wind speeds of fifty miles per hour. 

Blizzard focuses on his experience as a young boy during this storm that left his family snowbound for a week before plows could get to them. We can sense his childlike excitement and curiosity at this new phenomenon, as he attempts to sled in snow nearly over his head, and later sits by the fire reading "Arctic Survival."

When the family begins to get stir crazy, and worse, runs out of milk to make hot cocoa with, young John comes to the rescue with a pair of tennis rackets for snow shoes to bravely traverse the way to the store. 

This is a book that New-England-raised children can certainly appreciate, and highlights that sense of ingenuity that many of us in the "frozen north" have had to tap into as a matter of survival!

Scrounged From: Our local library

Format: Hardcover
Author/illustrator: John Rocco
Pages: 40
Content Advisory: None

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The Golden Glow is a story about a fox who loves botany (originally published in French). One day he goes off in search of "the golden glow" -- a very rare flower, which (he is eventually told) can only be found at the very top of the mountain. 

The story takes its time in reaching this destination (though it's not draggy or overly wordy), including informational pages here and there featuring topics such as items for hiking preparedness, common flowers, trees, mountain elevation zones, etc.

I liked the illustrations, especially the color palette, though the "angular" way that most things are drawn is interesting considering how sleekness and curves seem to be the order of the day.

Ultimately I appreciated the message of the story, which is that nature appreciation doesn't need to mean possessing everything we find, especially items that are rare and beautiful. I also thought this story avoided the common pitfall of presenting important ideas in a didactic way. 

(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)

Scrounged From: NetGalley

Format: Kindle
Author/illustrator: Benjamin Flouw
Pages: 48
Content Advisory: None

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I was immediately attracted to the beautiful cover art on Red Sky at Night. The colors are so soft, complement each other well, and seem filled with light. The human characters in the illustrations appear to be paper cut-outs, so I took a look at author/artist Elly MacKay's website to see what she shares about her artistic process. There she provides some examples of the "layers" that she builds in a theater setting to create her images -- so cool!

The text of this book is comprised of "weather sayings," some of which we have probably all heard before (such as the title). The illustrations serve as the primary narrative, and depict a grandfather taking his grandchildren on a fishing trip. Since so many weather sayings revolve around the sea, this is a fitting framework for the text, and I really love the accompanying images, especially the one with the whale!

To be honest, I was a bit skeptical of many of these sayings until I reached the end of the book and found an explanation for the scientific principles behind each one. Of course, none of them are foolproof and some may be questionable, but when you consider that these were written by people, such as farmers and fishermen, whose lives revolved so closely around the weather, it makes a lot more sense. 

In short, I really enjoyed this book, and the beautiful illustrations have inspired me to check out more work by Elly MacKay.

(Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced review copy.)

Scrounged From: NetGalley

Format: Kindle
Author/illustrator: Elly MacKay
Pages: 40
Content Advisory: None

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