Booklists - Cooperative Children's Book Center

To print a CCBC booklist, click on a list below and then use your browser’s “Print” command. You can also select books from one or more booklists to create a custom list, which can also include books from the CCBC-Recommended Book Search.

< Back to booklist

When Winter Comes

by Nancy Van Laan

CCBC Review:

What happens to leaves and flowers, caterpillars and songbirds, field mice and fish, and other living things "when winter comes and the cold wind blows"? In a series of lyrical question-and-response verses, Nancy Van Laan conveys ways in which the natural world changes and adapts when the cold and snow arrive. Her text is a gentle song for the season, and grace notes are provided by Susan Gaber's, whose subdued palette captures the look and feel of the first heavy snow of the season and the resulting transformation. At the heart of her pictures is a loving family–two adults and a small child–who are exploring this changing world. This trio could be many families: dark-eyed and dark-haired with olive-toned skin, a child that could be boy or girl, and adults that could be a woman and a man or two women. It is the small child, of course, so clearly loved and full of wonder that is nurtured, who is at the center of this story. Children will understand this from the very beginning, even though it is only implied in the text until the very end, when the author asks, "Where oh where does our little one go/ when winter comes and the cold winds blow?" Highly Commended, 2001 Charlotte Zolotow Award ©2001 Cooperative Children's Book Center

Illustrated by Susan Gaber

CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 3-6
Age Range: Babies/Toddlers (birth – 3) PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7)
Format: Picture book
Subjects: Animals (Fiction) Families Patterned text/Repetition Seasons Stories in Rhyme
Diversity subject: Brown Skin Unspecified

Publisher: Atheneum
Publish Year: 2000
Pages: 32
ISBN: 0689817789
CCBC Location: Picture Book, Van Laan

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Our Recommended Book Search includes subject access to CCBC-recommended titles based on subject headings created by our staff.