One Winter's Day by M. Christina Butler

One Winter's Day by Christine Butler

I am a sucker for books that focus on values, and this one, printed by a publishing house called Good Books, has a moral that is hard to miss. If you help others, treating your neighbors with compassionate kindness, you will be helped when the time comes. This is a worthy message to share with the young audience for whom this book is intended, and it is a pleasure to see Little Hedgehog rewarded for his compassion, even when he wasn't expecting it. Though it is easy to argue that the world doesn't always work this way, and the rewards of giving are usually much more ephemeral. Young children are usually looking for simple and concrete answers when they are caught up in life's storms, and I liked the way this book approached its story.

Tina Macnaughton's illustrations use dark colors punctuated by the vibrant red and orange hues selected for the hedgehog's scarf, hat, and gloves, which are featured in their touch and feel glory on almost every page of this story book. These clothing items are raised and give a soft surface, making this book just a little more pleasureful to read. I think this book would make a nice companion to The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, and either The Mitten or The Hat by Jan Brett, which are, interestingly enough, also both about cute little hedgehogs and their wintertime adventures with clothing.

Read This With

•  The Mitten or The Hat by Jan Brett

•  The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
  

This children's classic, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
is another story about a snowy journey