A few months from now, this book is going to keep us very warm and cozy because Winter is the Warmest Season. I don’t know why it is that somewhere in the middle of a burning hot, scorching summer I get occasional pangs for a cool winter morning or why a crisp winter day, with cold drops of rain, make me stare out of the window looking for summer sunshine. Can I ever be happy? My oldest son said, “You always read that book.” I guess he’s right because, this summer, I have read it quite a few times, especially on one of the really hot days we’ve had here.

Since we have moved further north, we get what I call REAL summer weather which includes temperatures that reach into the high 90’s and stay with us well into the evenings. On those days, I long for the ocean breezes only a few hours away. It’s nice to be able to jump into the creek to cool off or crack open this book and look at all of the snow covering the pages.

This book was inspired by the observant eye and logic of a child rather than an adult’s inability to be content with the temperature. Lauren Stringer’s son pointed out that during the winter months, “we wear warm clothes, drink hot chocolate, and sit by burning fires.” If that doesn’t warm your body as well as your heart, then I don’t know what will.

Every page is full of anything you can think of that signifies warmth on a cold winter day from earflaps on a hat, to hibernating animals, to fires burning in a fireplace. You can almost feel the temperature rising with the turning of each page. During the winter (all of the time), I get comfort from fluffy pillows, plush comforters, and hot chocolate. How soon will winter be here?

My children sit through this book because of me, but I think they enjoy it too. We talk about the winter months to come and the familiar sites in the book like the cooking of soups and cats curling up in our laps to the unfamiliar (”banging and hissing radiators“). One thing that’s for sure is by the end of the story, you are ready for a nice, cool, summer day.