Winter Reading With Your Family: Teens

What a frigid winter week it has been! Schools have been closed the past couple days and everyone has been staying safely tucked inside their homes. Hopefully you have been taking advantage of this confining weather and read some great books! I know that I have been spending more time than usual curled up on the couch with a blanket and book. This week, we are highlighting some great teen titles to read in this icy cold weather.


 
 Snowed In by Rachel Hawthorne (HarperTeen, 2007).                                       A light-hearted romance set in the car-less land of Mackinac Island near Michigan with wonderfully realistic characters. A great vacation read if you are still in that easy going mindset!






 
 Whispering to Witches by Anna Dale (Bloomsbury USA Children's, 2005).    A boy encounters witches while spending his Christmas holiday with his mother and stepfather in snowy Canterbury, England. A great fantasy choice for tweens as well as older teens, especially those who are Harry Potter fans.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (St. Martin's Griffin, 2013).
Two misfits fall in love, bonding over comics, alternative music and mutual awkwardness. This realistic and touching story set in 1986 also tackles mature themes such as bullying and abuse, with an ending sure to warm your heart. 









Blankets by Craig Thompson ( Top-Shelf Productions, 2003).
At 592 pages this graphic novel may seem intimidating, but fear not! This wonderfully personal coming of age story, featuring Craig himself as a boy in blustery Wisconsin, is sure to fly by quickly even for reluctant high school readers.

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials #1) by Phillip Pullman (Alfred A. Knopf, 1996).
 A thrilling fantasy that follows orphaned pre-teen Lyra as she ventures to find her kidnapped friend and uncle, complete with danger, witch encounters (both good and bad) and a helpful armored polar bear. Another great read for tweens and teens, it will be hard for them to not race through the next two books in this trilogy.

Winter Reading With Your Family: School-Age

We are back again to share our favorite winter reading titles! This week we will highlight our favorite school-age fiction.  Whether you read a beginner book, a chapter book or decide to pick up some poetry, there is sure to be a winter themed title below to delight and warm you during these chilly winter months!

Beginner Level Books:

Poppleton in Winter by Cynthia Rylant  

It's Snowing! It's Snowing!: Winter Poems by Jack Prelutsky

Snow by Roy McKie and P.D. Eastman

 Snow Surprise  by Lisa Campbell Ernst

 Oliver & Amanda and the Big Snow by Jean Van Leeuwen

Max and Mo: Let's Make a Snowman!  by Patricia Lakin

Chapter Books: 

The Adventures of a South Pole Pig by Chris Kurtz

Sugar and Ice by Kate Messner

Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

The Winter Knights by Paul Stewart

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Winter Danger by William O. Steele

Captain Awesome Saves the Winter Wonderland by Stan Kirby

The Winter of Red Snow: the Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart by Kristiana Gregory

A Kingdom Far and Clear: The Complete Swan Lake Trilogy 
  by Mark Helprin

The Junkyard Dog by Erika Tamar

It’s Snow Joke by Nancy Krulik Burks

Winter Reading With Your Family: Littles

We love to share our favorite titles here at the gmplkids blog and it just so happens that we also think that winter is the very best time for sharing books with your family and friends. What other season allows for steamy hot chocolate, cozy, wooly socks and warm couch snuggles to be enjoyed together while reading a book? 

This is also a golden opportunity to tell you about our newest reading program being piloted this upcoming January, called simply our "Winter Reading Program". From January 19th through February 28th you can read or listen to any book and fill out an entry form (available on our website at gmplibrary.org or at the library) to be entered into weekly gift card drawings. No registration is required and anyone five years or older can participate ! So this January, grab one of the wonderful titles we have suggested below or a favorite from your home bookshelf and get cozy. 

To celebrate winter reading, we will be sharing some titles that are personal favorites here in the Grafton-Midview Public Library Children's Department. Throughout the next couple weeks keep your eyes peeled for more winter reading recommendations as part of our "Winter Reading With Your Family" series. Today we will share great choices to read with the littlest ones in your family. Babies will enjoy the adorable board books below while preschoolers and kindergarteners will enjoy the many beautiful and entertaining picture books.  I'm sure that even older children and adults will agree to a fireside read-aloud of Extra Yarn or Let it Snow, though.  Happy reading!




Board Books: 
 
That’s Not My Polar Bear by Fiona Watt 
 

Three Little Kittens Illustrated by Tanya Linch

Winter Friends by Carl R. Same II and Jean Stoick

In My Den by Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich 

 

Busy Penguins by John Schindel and Jonathan Chester

Snuggle Wuggle by Jonathan London

Picture Books: 

Waiting for Winter by Sebastian Meschenmoser

Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep by Maureen Wright

Flannel Kisses by Linda Crotta Brennan

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett  

The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett

One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo 

The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming

When Winter Comes by Nancy Van Laan 

Little Fern's First Winter by Jane Simmons 

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen 

 

Snowballs by Lois Ehlert

 

Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton

Let it Snow by Holly Hobbie