Winter Is the Warmest Season

November 13, 2006
In this cozy, wintertime picture book, a child muses about how most people think the warmest season is "summer,/ with its long steamy days./ But not me./ My world is warmest in winter." The child lists a plethora of things that demonstrate warmth in winter—a hat that "grows earflaps," and, in one of the strongest illustrations, animals sleeping "under thick blankets of snow," pictured curled up, embryo-like, in safe circular havens below ground. Sometimes the text contrasts winter- and summertime activities, with a sprinkling of comfy imagery, as when "summer's cool fans hide/ in dark basements" and winter's "sleeping radiators awake/ to their dragon selves, banging/ and hissing." Youngest readers may have difficulty following some of the more abstract acrylic paintings. For instance, to illustrate the radiators, cloud-like patches of snow in each corner of the spread feature either the text or images of two cats peering out of attic windows, while the interior of the house spreads out like a fan, with radiators steaming in three different rooms above a basement with a pot-bellied furnace. While children may be intrigued by all the warm things to be found in coldest winter, there's little visual plot in this lengthy volume, and Stringer's raindrops-on-roses litany full of "warm woolly sweaters" and "candles burn in candleplaces," may not be enough to keep young readers turning the pages. Ages 3-7.

November 1, 2006
PreS-Gr 3-In this playful concept book, Stringer enumerates the joys of winter to prove her point that it is the warmest season. Children don puffy jackets, deep boots, and hats with earflaps. The cold sandwiches and drinks of summer are replaced by hot soups, pies, and breads. Nights are warm, with fireplaces and candles burning, and gatherings of friends and family. Each fanciful acrylic spread is carefully composed with an eye toward balance and to drawing readers eyes across the pages. Thus, on one spread, while a boy and his dog dance past snowmen at the top, a row of hibernating animals burrow beneath a layer of snow across the bottom. Theres a lively flow to both illustration and text, with cheerfully jumbled perspectives and a sense of the ongoing cycle of seasons. A cheerful celebration of winters pleasures."Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2006
Winter? Cold? It's all in the way you look at things as this imaginative book makes clear. A boy proclaims that summer notwithstanding, his world is warmest in winter. His puffy jacket is cozy, and a fire burns in the fireplace. Comparisons between summer and winter come in clever pairs: jelly sandwiches turn into grilled cheese; cool swims turn into hot baths. Nor is it just the boy who feels the difference: the cat cuddles on laps instead of stretching out on the windowsill. In a linguistic rhapsody, the boy explains how "sleeping radiators awake to their dragon selves, banging and hissing and pouring heat." It takes special art to accentuate the evocative words, and Stringer, who has illustrated many books for others, provides distinctive pictures for herself. With fascinating perspectives that sometimes start on the ceiling, the deeply hued acrylic artwork ranges from friendly to joyous, as in a two-page spread of a party filled with fun and music. A special book worthy of many readings, this radiates warmth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)