Winter Is Coming

PreS-Gr 2—An empty sketchbook, freshly sharpened pencils, and binoculars set the stage for this luminous story about the powerful magic of being still and experiencing the natural world. Sitting in her tree house, using all her senses to witness the changing season, a girl sketches a variety of Northern animals and notes their habits as they forage for food. The short journal entries combine poetry with pragmatism, resulting in spare, elegant observations about nature: "Dawn burns the sky./A flock of wild turkeys jostles by./They poke everyplace, muttering/food, food, food." Although the variety of animals that she sees within a single season is rather implausible, the respect she has for nature and the life cycle keep the text grounded: "I know animals/are best left alone./Maybe the deer will find enough food./Maybe not./ Soon they move on, nibbling." Gorgeous acrylic and colored pencil illustrations show the wonder that the girl feels and evoke the experience of witnessing the layers of the natural world slowly revealing themselves as apparent stillness becomes full of life—wind rustling leaves, birds chirping, and scurrying insects. This book unflinchingly faces the fact that the cold is coming, the lean season is approaching, and there are endings within the cycle of life. A touching reminder about the beauty of the natural world.—Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, MN