Also by this author: A Head Full of Birds, The Brothers Zzli, Home
Published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers on October 15, 2024
Genres: Children's, Children's Educational
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A cozy tale about a restless sleeper, his hibernating friends, and how he creates his best winter yet.
When snow begins to blanket the trees, naptime is here for the animals of the forest—everyone, it seems, except for Badger! He doesn’t feel like sleeping, and he’s got some big plans for the cold months ahead. But Mr. Bear has posted a “DO NOT DISTURB” sign. Marmot won’t answer the door. Even the nighthawk is sound asleep. Badger draws, knits, and reads for hours, but he doesn’t want to spend all this time alone. Can he find anyone to join his winter fun?
Featuring a delightful, crayon-illustrated cast of animals, The Most Beautiful Winter encourages children to make the most of the coldest time of year. An excellent pick for hibernation lessons, snuggly bedtimes, and winter parties, this amusing story will charm readers all season long.
Snow is falling. The temperature is dropping. And animals throughout the woods are going into their long winter’s rest. But Badger has other ideas. The Most Beautiful Winter tells the story of a badger (who does not hibernate) wandering the forest in search of someone to join him in his winter plans. One by one, Badger finds his friends asleep—he’s going to have to find new friends if he wants something to do.
The Most Beautiful Winter is partially an educational book about which animals hibernate and which don’t, but it’s mostly a book about making new friends, joining new communities, and finding companionship and fun in unlikely places. Cristina Sitja Rubio’s illustrations show the homes of different animals and what hibernation looks like for them. But it’s not too strict on detail. Marmot as a clock. Bear has blankets. The birds are wearing party hats. There’s a level of humanness that Rubio gives them to better connect them to their young human reader audience.
At the end of the book is a page explaining what hibernation is and how it works. Rubio also explains torpor, which is a sort of light hibernation that badgers will actually go through at some point near the end of winter. There’s also a page of facts about what to do to help animals in winter.
The Most Beautiful Winter is simple and straightforward. The message of finding new communities is left implicit—maybe undeveloped—and the message about hibernation is nothing more than badger visiting a series of sleeping animals. The book is fine, but I didn’t really find that anything stood out. Maybe useful for a science lesson on hibernation, but even then there’s really not that much to work with.