12 Winter Books For Kids

Nothing captures the joy of winter quite like a good book, a warm drink, a cozy couch, and snow falling outside. There is something about this season that invites us to read more. Life slows down in the rhythm of winter. We give our bodies a much-needed, well-deserved rest. Spending cold days snuggled up together under a blanket with a good read is one of the great pleasures of family life.

📚 What Montessori says about family read-alouds and building a love of literacy: Maria Montessori believed that a rich language environment, filled with beautiful books, storytelling, and shared reading, is one of the most important gifts a family can give a child. She designed her language curriculum to cultivate a deep, intrinsic love of reading long before formal instruction begins, because she understood that a child who loves stories will become a child who loves to read. Research on shared reading (Bus, van IJzendoorn, and Pellegrini, 1995, Psychological Bulletin) found that shared book reading is the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual reading success. A 2019 study in Pediatrics found that children read to daily from infancy showed significantly greater language development, literacy skills, and parent-child bonding, with benefits measurable well into the school years. A 2021 meta-analysis in Reading Research Quarterly confirmed that family reading routines, especially those that are consistent and enjoyable, produce the strongest long-term gains in reading motivation and comprehension.

We are happy to bring you our winter reading tradition: 12 Winter Books for Kids in 12 Weeks. It is our hope at ShillerLearning that this season you will grow to love reading together as a family on a new level. The benefits of reading aloud with children have been proven time and time again. Reading aloud as a family builds literacy and offers so much more. We have made a list of must-read books for families. Check them out and let us know what your favorites are too!

Our Top Winter Reads for Families

❄️ Pick 12 to read this winter, one per week

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
A Home in the Barn by Jerry Pinkney
The Mitten by Jan Brett
The Longest Night by Marion Dane Bauer
Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner
Winter Is Coming by Tony Johnston
Tacky and the Winter Games by Helen Lester
Winter Is the Warmest Season by Lauren Stringer
Footprints in the Snow by Cynthia Benjamin
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett
The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen
How Do You Know It's Winter? by Lisa M. Herrington
I Like Winter by Lois Lenski
Snowflake Bentley by J. B. Martin
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
Shh! Bears Sleeping by David Martin
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

How to Start Reading Together More as a Family

Many parents share that they wish they had more family reading time. Life is busy and children are going in many different directions. Pushing reading time to the back burner can happen easily. Yet children consistently say that reading aloud together as a family is one of their favorite activities. We know how important and special this time can be, and how powerfully it builds literacy skills.

Take this winter as an invitation to slow down. These books can be incorporated into your homeschool, or enjoyed as free reads together as a family. Here are five tips to make the most of your 12 Winter Books in 12 Weeks experience.

📅 Schedule It

Scheduling reading time may sound overly structured, but it is the most reliable way to make sure it actually happens. When everyone is going in different directions most of the week, a consistent time on the calendar gives the whole family something to look forward to. Pick a regular time each week and put it on the books.

🌟 Theme It

If time allows, create a theme around your book of the week. Children could make decorations as an art project, or a special meal inspired by the book could be served. Everyone could receive a pair of mittens when you read The Mitten. Building a theme around the book brings it to life and keeps the whole family committed to the reading tradition.

📋 Plan It

This goes hand in hand with scheduling. If you are scrambling to find a book on the day you planned to read it, the session may not happen. Choose all 12 books now and decide on the order. Place holds at the library, order online, or visit a local used bookstore. A little pre-planning will make everything flow much more smoothly.

👥 Include Others

Invite friends, homeschool co-op members, neighbors, or extended family. You do not need company every week. Try a couple of weeks with guests, or visit a local senior care facility to read to the residents. They love having children around and the experience is meaningful for everyone involved.

🌟 Create Something

Take learning and creativity to a new level. After finishing a book, do something creative with it. Make a mini-book retelling the story, rewrite it with a different ending, create a stop-motion video, perform a mini-play, or record it as an audiobook complete with voices and sound effects.

Whatever you do, enjoy it! These winter books for kids are sure to be loved by children of all ages. You may find that you want to create a year-round tradition of literacy with a weekly family book night.