Cozy Winter Reads for the Whole Family
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No matter your age, winter is the perfect time of year to curl up with a good book. Alexandra Brown is an education technology specialist with National Heritage Academies (NHA®). She shares her top picks for books for the whole family.
Family Fun Idea: Read this book as a family or listen to the audiobook before you watch the movie for a Family Movie Night. The whole family is guaranteed to laugh and want to make this an annual holiday tradition.
Recommended for Little Ones
The Little Snowplow by Lora Koehler - The big trucks all think Little Snowplow is too small to be of any help on the Mighty Mountain Road Crew. When the snow starts falling and an avalanche traps one of the big trucks, only Little Snowplow is small enough to clear him a path to safety.
Toys Meet Snow by Emily Jenkins - Snow, from the perspective of the littlest kids, is just pure magic. For them, there’s no shoveling or worrying about the roads, and probably no school to miss. Equal parts poetic, funny, and sweet, this book captures that feeling of seeing the beauty of the first-falling flakes and what you can do as they pile up.
Ten Ways to Hear Snow by Kathy Camper - This book uses sensory language as it explores all the sounds you hear after snow has and puts an emphasis on family and traditions, routines, and meals.
Blizzard by John Rocco - A story based on Rocco’s own experience as a 10-year-old during a blizzard, the humor and kindness mixed throughout the story make this one to revisit again and again. Be sure to check out the double-page-spread to see the path Rocco took from his house to the store!
Recommended for High School
Peak by Roland Smith - A high action story about a young boy named Peak who has an estranged relationship with his dad. The relationship takes an unexpected turn when Peak is presented with the opportunity to climb Mount Everest.
Snowglobe by Soyoung Park - The world is cold; -50 degrees is the norm in winter. Communities survive in this dystopian mystery novel by linking to power plants run on kinetic human energy. To escape their bleak existence, ordinary people watch television produced in Snowglobe, where glamorous reality shows are filmed inside a geothermal heated dome, the only warm place left.
Recommended Family Read-Aloud
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson - The Herdmans are the worst kids ever — and none of them have ever heard the Christmas story. So, when they find their place in the annual Christmas pageant, things take a surprising turn.Family Fun Idea: Read this book as a family or listen to the audiobook before you watch the movie for a Family Movie Night. The whole family is guaranteed to laugh and want to make this an annual holiday tradition.
Recommended for Little Ones
The Little Snowplow by Lora Koehler - The big trucks all think Little Snowplow is too small to be of any help on the Mighty Mountain Road Crew. When the snow starts falling and an avalanche traps one of the big trucks, only Little Snowplow is small enough to clear him a path to safety.
Toys Meet Snow by Emily Jenkins - Snow, from the perspective of the littlest kids, is just pure magic. For them, there’s no shoveling or worrying about the roads, and probably no school to miss. Equal parts poetic, funny, and sweet, this book captures that feeling of seeing the beauty of the first-falling flakes and what you can do as they pile up.
Recommended for Early Elementary
Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner - Explore what animals are doing under the snow with cutaway views show what is happening beneath the snow as well as on its surface as a child and her father plays and cross-country skis on top of the snow during the day and into the night.Ten Ways to Hear Snow by Kathy Camper - This book uses sensory language as it explores all the sounds you hear after snow has and puts an emphasis on family and traditions, routines, and meals.
Recommended for Grades 3 – 6
Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin - This is an immaculately illustrated biography of Wilson Bentley, whose work photographing snowflakes led to many great scientific breakthroughs about snowflakes.Blizzard by John Rocco - A story based on Rocco’s own experience as a 10-year-old during a blizzard, the humor and kindness mixed throughout the story make this one to revisit again and again. Be sure to check out the double-page-spread to see the path Rocco took from his house to the store!
Recommended for Middle School
Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan - It is 1942 in Norway and the Nazis are moving closer to the country, so it is decided that something must be done to keep Norwegian gold from the enemy. Children are the only ones who can go about their daily lives without arousing suspicion. Narrator McDonough retells this compelling story about the real heroes and heroines in Norway.
The Dogs of Winter by Bobbie Pyron - An orphaned boy in Russia survives as a member of a pack of dogs. Ivan is only 4 years old when he runs away to the streets of Moscow. The story told in first person is a wonderful winter read about friendship and receiving help from unlikely sources!Recommended for High School
Peak by Roland Smith - A high action story about a young boy named Peak who has an estranged relationship with his dad. The relationship takes an unexpected turn when Peak is presented with the opportunity to climb Mount Everest.
Snowglobe by Soyoung Park - The world is cold; -50 degrees is the norm in winter. Communities survive in this dystopian mystery novel by linking to power plants run on kinetic human energy. To escape their bleak existence, ordinary people watch television produced in Snowglobe, where glamorous reality shows are filmed inside a geothermal heated dome, the only warm place left.
