Little Bear is delighted to discover the fresh layer of snow outside his cave. But he quickly realizes snow isn’t much fun when he’s playing by himself.
My girls love to read books about the snow and I think it is because neither one has any personal memory of the fluffy, white, wet, cold stuff. I think the temporal climate of Austin, Texas is a bonus to living in this city. I grew up in the SE of Ohio and I have no shortage of bittersweet stinging cold memories of living where there is always a chance of a blizzard each year. While there was certainly a little fondness of being able to be the first person to make an imprint in the blanket of fluff on the ground and looking up into the bare branches of the trees as the frosty branches glisten in the moonlight – yet for the most part, I hated the snow. It was a pain to drive in, it was rough trying to run to shelter as the blistering sting of the cold bit your face, and while the occasional snow day happened, it would usually result in extra days tacked on to the school year or losing wages because I was a student only getting paid for hours worked. However, my children have a fantasy of love of snow without ever having had to navigate through it and it is quite fun and charming because so many of our winter themed books center around the snowy weather.
Snow Friends, a re-release from Sky Pone Press, is all about Little Bear making friends with the winter wonderland that is the snow. When he wakes up from hibernating, he discovers that his world has been blanketed in the stuff. He’s so excited to explore, sled down a hill, and make pretend snow storms by shaking snowy branches. He soon realizes, though, that it would be much more fun if he had some friends to play with, but he is all alone. THEN, Little Bear has an idea! He can MAKE snow friends AKA snowmen!
Little Bear begins building his snowman and then realizes there are many other creatures that he didn’t realize were around that begin to join him. Otter and Rabbit help him by rolling the big shiny snowman body and the new friends work together to build their snowman and spend all day playing together. Snow Friends is a sweet and simple story of teamwork and friendship of having fun outside in the winter. The illustrations are so cute and the cover has a unique glitter that makes the snow sparkle which my girls love. If I can’t give snow to my children, I can read about it through books, so Snow Friends has lovingly joined our winter book collection that we will probably be reading well into spring!
About Sky Pony Press: Sky Pony Press, with Good Books, Racehorse and Arcade imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of books for young readers—picture books for small children, chapter books, books for middle grade readers, and novels for young adults. Their list includes bestsellers for children who love to play Minecraft; stories told with LEGO bricks; books that teach lessons about tolerance, patience, and the environment, and much more. While not every title they publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, they are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
About the Author: M. Christina Butler has written many bestselling books for children, including the Little Hedgehog books One Snowy Night, One Winter’s Day, and One Rainy Day. She lives in Driffield, East Yorkshire, England.
About the Illustrator: Tina Macnaughton has illustrated a number of books for young children, including the delightful Snuggle Up, Sleepy Ones and the bestselling Little Hedgehog. She lives in Guildford, Scotland.
List Price: $ 9.99 (Available through Amazon Prime)
Momma's Bacon 