It’s that time of year again: bring on the cold weather, cozy blankets, and hot chocolate. And you know what will make all of those things even more festive? Snuggling up next to the fire and reading a good book with the ones you love! Exploring the library this winter break is a great way to plan a day of family fun. While you're there, check out these amazing holiday and winter-y stories from Peachtree. Some will have the family rolling on the floor with laughter while others will touch the soul and warm the heart. You might even find a new holiday classic you will want to enjoy every year with the whole family!
Winter-y Titles
In this gently rhyming board book, simple and evocative language and charming illustrations describe a girl’s experience on a snowy day as she and her pet dog make a snowman, sled, and have other winter fun! Elizabeth Spurr and Manelle Oliphant together create a perfect sit-in-your-lap reading experience for toddlers.
Claude and his best friend Sir Bobblysock are at it again! This time, they go to the Snowy Mountains to swish down the powdery slopes. They throw snowballs, learn to ski, and enter a snow-sculpture contest. But when an avalanche threatens their winter wonderland, Claude must come to the rescue.
All of Penguin’s friends are excited about the upcoming talent show, but Penguin can’t seem to figure out what his talent is. He tries juggling appliances with Bear, doing magic tricks with Rabbit, and burping the alphabet with Fox, but he doesn’t seem to be good at any of it. Stuck behind the scenes organizing, Penguin leaves the contest saddened, the only one who hasn’t received a medal. When his friends decide to throw him a party, but their festivities fizzle, Penguin discovers he might have some special skills after all as he sets to work planning them all the best party ever.
Through simple, easy-to-understand language and beautifully detailed paintings, this guide teaches children what the Polar Regions are and shows how various species of animals and plants have adapted to life in these habitats.
When the television weatherman predicts a big snowfall, the narrator gleefully imagines the fun-filled possibilities of an unscheduled holiday from school. Piling under warm blankets. Sipping hot chocolate in snowman mugs. Building a snow fort. Sledding in the neighbor’s field. In scene after snowy scene, from sunrise to sundown, a pair of siblings, with their father in tow, show how they would make the most of their day off. But when the family wakes up the next morning, they are in for a disappointment. No snow! As the family members pile into the car so they won’t be late for school, an unexpected twist reveals who wanted the snow day most of all.
While her new cubs Snowball and Snowflake are too young to venture far from their den, Polar Star shows them the delights of their ice and snow wonderland home. But when the cubs are old enough to leave the safety of the den, they must learn how to survive in their beautiful yet hostile world and follow Polar Star across the treacherous sea ice in search of food. The remote Arctic world is brought closer to young readers in this dramatic story that follows a mother polar bear and her two cubs from her hibernation and their birth to their long journey together and a hungry male bear they encounter along the way.
Many know the story of Robert Peary’s great 1909 expedition to reach the North Pole. Yet few people know that Peary was joined on this grueling, history-making journey by fellow explorer Matthew Henson. Just born after the Civil War, a time when slavery had been abolished but few opportunities were available for black people, Henson exhibited a yearning for adventure; at the age of only thirteen, he embarked on a five-year voyage sailing the seven seas and learning navigation, history, and mathematics. Henson’s greatest adventure began when he accepted an invitation from Robert Peary to join his expedition to the North Pole. The team endured storms, shifting ice, wind, injuries, accidents, and unimaginable cold. Finally on April 1, Peary, Henson, and four Inuit men began the final 133-mile push to the Pole.
Inspired by the Great Blizzard of 1947, a young boy trudging through deep snow in her neighborhood park is suddenly hit with a strong wind that grabs his coat and lifts him into the air. As the young boy is soaring over familiar sites—a bridge over a frozen river, a baseball field, and an amusement park—he gains a new perspective, escaping from the routine of everyday life. But when the boy returns to the safety of his home, he is left wondering: Was it all just a marvelous dream?
Under the Snow
When snow falls, we go home where it is warm and safe. What about all those animals out there in the forests and fields? What do they do when snow blankets the ground?
Anna's Blizzard
It is 1888 and twelve-year-old Anna loves her life on the Nebraska prairie where feels most at home. But at school she feels hopelessly out of place. Arithmetic is too hard, her penmanship is abysmal, and stuck-up Eloise Baxter always laughs at her mistakes. But when an intense Nebraska blizzard traps Anna, her schoolmates, and young teacher in the one-room schoolhouse, Anna knows they must escape before it is too late. Does she have the courage and strength to lead her school through the whiteout to safety?
