How to survive the winter (with books)

Survival tips and book recommendations for enduring (and enjoying) winter

Hi friends,

One winter day when my kids were still children, we woke to find the world around us covered in frost and fog. Everything was white and glistening, coated in tiny spikes of ice crystals. It was too magical outside to stay inside, so I told my kids to bundle up so we could head to the park down the road to take pictures. I reminded my son, who was eight or nine at the time, to wear his long johns. He did not.

He was a trooper at first, enjoying the sights of a breathtaking winter morning. But blue jeans are anything but warm on a frosty January day, and soon he was complaining about the cold.

I often tell my husband and my kids (especially my now adult son who grew up to dread the cold days of winter) that it’s easy to to endure or even enjoy winter if you simply prepare for it. So I thought I would share some tips on how to survive the winter. I don’t mean the kind of survival tips you might hear from someone who endured a season on the show Alone (I assume that if you’re reading this you have adequate food and shelter). Rather, these tips are to help you live while you’re surviving winter instead of simply waiting for spring to come again.

• Bundle up! My husband will go outside with the dogs on a 6-degree winter morning wearing nothing but a robe, and then have the nerve to complain about winter weather. That’s silliness. Be like me instead! I wear my fleece PJs, long winter coat, and gloves. I put my hood up. And I stay warm! Sometimes the wind is a little bitter and it stings my face. But it’s winter! I get to go back into my house and enjoy a working furnace and a hot cup of tea. What’s the big deal?

• Learn to appreciate snow. Yes, snow can be a pain. It has to be cleared off driveways and sidewalks. It can be challenging and dangerous to drive in. But it’s beautiful to look at. It’s fun to play in. And it’s good for the plants and ground. A little change in perspective can do you wonders! Need some help in changing your perspective? Check out these wintry books.

• Make the most of soup season! Here is a list of soup books and some great soup recipes to try.

• Try a hobby. It’s been a cold, dry, snowless winter in my corner of Nebraska so far. BORING. But boring outside doesn’t have to mean boring inside. There are lots things that are better to do than scroll your phone or watch TV (though I’m a big supporter of movie nights). You could learn a new craft, construct a Lego set, or start a sketchbook. A great book for adults or kids who want to start a sketchbook practice is Drawing is Magic: Discovering Yourself in a Sketchbook by John Hendrix.

• Go outside. Even if you hate the winter. Even if there’s no snow on the ground allowing you to pretend to discover Narnia when walking among the pine trees at that park down the street. A winter walk can be invigorating, and sunlight is good for you for lots of reasons. Plus, you might see migrating birds or a neighbor you haven’t seen since Halloween.

• Try an outdoor winter activity, like sledding, skiing, renting some snow shoes for a trek through the woods. A ride on a snowmobile. Ice skating. Make snow angels and build snowmen. Have a snowball fight. Build a snow fort, like this one:

  

  It’s more of a snow tunnel, I suppose.

• Head to the library and stock up on some good reads, like Geraldine in the book Geraldine’s Big Snow by Holly Keller. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis is a great series to read over the winter. And if you like your books to match the season, try May B., a historical novel in verse by Caroline Starr Rose. If you need more reading suggestions, especially for picture books and middle grade, take a look at

  Read, Discuss, Do
  for lots of book recommendations and story time ideas.

However you choose to endure winter, I hope you are able to find some enjoyment out of it, even if it’s just to stay bundled up inside as much as possible with a big stack of books and a steady supply of hot, wholesome soup!

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What I’m working on

I’ve been working on an illustration project! It’s a book dummy for one of my own picture book manuscripts, a story about an unhappy snowman. You may remember seeing some of my practice sketches in the past couple of newsletters. This past week I took the next step and created a small block print of a scene from the book, mainly as practice to make sure I’m on the right track. Next I will be painting this scene in Procreate. I hope to have that finished this week. Stay tuned!

Snowman and Fox linocut