When It's Winter - Karen A. Wyle - ★★★★

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AUTHOR: Karen A. Wyle
ILLUSTRATOR: Barbara Dessi
GENRE: Children's Picture Book.
RATING: 4 stars.

A sweet picture book about what a little girl does “when it’s winter”.

There is no story as such here. Rather, it is like a list of things the girl likes to do in winter. (I loved the ending, btw. Didn’t see that coming! 😊)

Coming from a tropical country (and having seen snow just thrice in my life), I cannot say I connected personally with the story. But it certainly made me feel like jumping into snow the next time I see it. Winter has always been my favourite season (as I am a winter baby! ❄👶❄) so to see a cute picture book about winter activities gave me a warm feeling in my heart. (Ironic, right? Warm feeling from winter stories!)

That said, the word ‘activities’ takes a very different meaning here. In typical children’s books, winter/snow would automatically involve group fun activities such as ice skating, skiing, tobogganing, and snowball fights. Here, many of the activities are more internal (for lack of a better word), with the little girl mulling over unusual snowy elements such as watching winter birds and “making clouds with her breath”. I liked this approach of taking the common as well as uncommon winter-related fun.

The imagery in the book is amazing. With minimal text, the author still creates a fabulous picture with her words. The text is not more 2-3 lines per page—always beginning with “when it’s winter” and continuing in first person—and in a comfortable font size, thus throwing the maximum spotlight on the sketches.

The illustrations are really sweet and add beautifully to the text. Snowy hues of grey, blue and white dominate the pages, and the girl and her dog add the perfect pop of colour.

This would be a nice book for little snow lovers as well as those who want to explore more about a winter wonderland. The vocabulary would be perfect for ages 2 – 8.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and these are my honest thoughts about it.

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