When Winter Comes

A sweet poetic children's book celebrating the vibrancy of life in winter.

Though a forest may be blanketed in snow or a lake frozen over, families who enjoy the outdoors in winter, happily bundled up to play in the energizing weather, know that wildlife is still teeming there.

When winter comes,
and deep snow blankets the woods,
and ice forms cold and smooth on the lakes,
thick enough for us to skate on,
some people think our woods are empty.
But we know better.

The fallen log that is used to hide behind in a snowball fight is a shelter for tree frogs, caterpillars, ladybugs, and slugs. The drifts of fallen snow that families snowshoe across have winding tunnels made by meadow mice in search of seeds and bark. The towering trees families ski among shield birds from winter winds.

When Winter Comes celebrates the joy of playing and exploring in the outdoors during the winter months.

About the Author

Aim E M. Bissonette is the author of three picture books, North Woods Girl (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2015), Miss Colfax's Light (Sleeping Bear Press, 2016), and Aim for the Skies- Jerrie Mock and Joan Merriam Smith's Race to Complete Amelia Earhart's Quest (Sleeping Bear Press, 2018). North Woods Girl won the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award, Midwest Booksellers Choice Award, and Friends of American Writers Award. Miss Colfax's Light was named in ALA's 2017 Amelia Bloomer List and was a recipient of the 2017 International Literacy Association Children's Book Award for Primary Nonfiction.

About the Illustrator

Erin Hourigan is an illustrator and author in Portland, Oregon. She grew up in Southern California playing in the waves and dreaming up stories everywhere she went. She studied illustration at Cal State Fullerton before moving to Oregon, where she learned to trade the waves for pine trees and rivers. She draws much of her inspiration from the world around her and loves spending time outdoors, whether it's on a hike or just playing with her dog, Scout.