Winter Reads for All Ages
Anyone else really love reading seasonally? There’s something extra cozy this time of year about grabbing your favorite blanket, something warm to drink, and a book with the perfect winter setting.
I’ve made a list of the most wintry, cold books I could think of. I’ve read most, but not all of them (I doubt this chicken will never read The Shining), so feel free to ask me any questions. Also, some of these are not winter through-and-through, but leave you with that feeling. For instance, obviously A Year of Living Danishly is not just wintry because, as stated it in the title, it’s A YEAR, buttt the cold, darkness, and coziness, stood out the most to me.
I also want to highlight Freedom Soup, by Tami Charles and Jacqueline Alcantara, which was sent to me by Candlewick. Most of the books on here feel more wintry because of the outdoor setting, but this one, while there is snow outside, made the list because of the feelings it creates by being steeped in tradition and coziness. It’s the story of a young girl and her grandmother making Freedom Soup on New Year’s, which is a Haitian tradition dating back to the Haitian Revolution. I love how evocative it is from the cooking to the dancing to the richness of its moving tradition. I definitely recommend it. It’s also got me thinking a few things: (1) Being a New Englander, I have a definite bias about what comes to mind regarding winter (2) I wish there were more books for the more “minor” holidays and (3) certain foods feel so wintry and I want more books with them in the forefront. Please share any you can think of?
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Adult Fiction
- Leif Enger’s Peace Like A River
- Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale
- Rosamund Pilcher’s Winter Solstice
- Eowyn Ivey’s The Snow Child
- Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone
- George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones
- Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express
- Arthur Ransome’s Winter Holiday
- Stephen King’s The Shining
- Angela Thirkell’s High Rising
- Louise Penny’s Still Life
Adult Nonfiction
- Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air
- Blair Braverman’s Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North
- Alfred Lansing’s Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage
- Helen Russell’s The Year of Living Danishly
Young Adults
- Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows
- Kristin Cashore’s Graceling
- Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver
- Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief
Middle Grade
- Maria Parr’s Astrid the Unstoppable
- Kate Milford’s Greenglass House
- Karina Yon Glaser’s The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street
- Ben Guterson’s Winterhouse
- Carol Ryrie Brink’s Caddie Woodlawn
- Louisa May Alcott’s Eight Cousins
- Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Long Winter
- C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
Picture Books
- Teagan White’s Mice Skating
- Kerri Kokias’s Snow Sisters!
- Hans Christian Andersen The Snow Queen
- Kevin Henke’s Oh!
- Tami Charles’ Freedom Soup
- Claudia Rueda’s Bunny Slopes
- Charlotte Huck’s Princess Furball
- Linda Booth Sweeney’s When The Snow Falls
Board Books
- Kevin Henkes’ Winter Is Here
- Ezra Jack Keats’ The Snowy Day
- Cynthia Rylant’s Little Penguins
- Jan Brett’s The Mitten
- Richard Smith’s Walking in a Winter Wonderland
- Ezra Jack Keat’s The Snowy Day
- Keith Baker’s No Two Alike
- Lauren Thompson’s Mouse’s First Snow
- Lita Judge’s Red Sled
- Caralyn Buehner’s Snowmen at Night
- Lora Koehler’s The Little Snowplow
- Mation Dane Bauer’s Winter Dance
- Gerda Muller’s Winter
I know there are so many more out there and, like I said before, that this is a very limited idea of winter reading. Do you read seasonally? What would you recommend that makes you feel wintry?
If you would like to join in on the fun, please go to the submissions page!
for picture books:
have you read The Tomten or The Tomten and the Fox by Astrid Lindgren? they are both lovely.
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening illustrated by Susan Jeffers is also beautiful.
and I love No Two Snowflakes by Sheree Fitch
beginning reader:
Poppleton in Winter by Cynthia Rylant (you and Maeve might really like all the Poppleton books!)
for adult fiction – i reread The Spy Who Came for Christmas by David Morrell most years
I tried to after reading Lindgren’s newest, but my library system didn’t have them. That’s good to know! I’ll have to try to hunt them down used. Looking up those other ones at our library right after I finish typing this. Love Cynthia Rylant. Thank you so much!
Let me know which ones you find and what you think of them! ✨