I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The illustrations in this book are gorgeous, and I love the relationship between the grandmother and her grandson. This is one of those books that is a fiction story with a lot of non-fiction elements. I think that makes it easier for kids to learn than the straight non-fiction that doesn't have much storyline. A couple grammatical errors that I think will be fixed before publishing but a good story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this little tale! I really enjoyed the over message of the story and would read this to my children nd to those in their class. I liked the illustrations and thought the book well thought out.

Winter Sleep was such a cute book to read to my daughter. The book teaches children about winter hibernation and how the world around us changes during this time. The book is super engaging and written extremely well.

My apologies that I was not able to download this book and read it before it was archived in NetGalley, so I am unable to provide a review.

5★
"HOW YOU CAN HELP
• Leave out fresh water and feeders to help birds in the cold weather.
• Create some safe winter cover for mammals. This can be done by putting up a bat box, building a log pile, or making a compost heap or wild scrubby area.
• Provide safe resting places for reptiles in compost, leaf piles, logs, and rocks.
• Plant lots of flowers so there’s plenty of food for minibeasts when they wake up in spring.
• Clear your pond of fallen autumn leaves so the water stays healthy for pond life during winter."

And that's the end of the story! A little boy loves to visit his Granny Sylvie's house because she knows everything worth knowing and takes him to a secret glade in the woods where they see lots of animals, birds, insects, fish, flowers, ferns, trees - all things that would delight any of us.

When he returns to visit in the winter, he wants to know why so many have disappeared. Granny, of course, knows more than the names of the wild things, she knows all about them and explains it in simple language, sparking a real interest.

The illustrations by Cinyee Chiu are delightful and I'm sure in the final publication, the printing will be fine. You'll see in some of these examples, a few words have overlapping letters. Following is a list of the pictures I included in my Goodreads review.

Picture of Granny Sylvie and grandson looking at a dormouse on the tree

Picture of the dormouse hibernating

Picture of Granny Sylvie showing where the stag beetles are hidden down underfoot

Pictures of other small creatures hidden away for the winter.

Picture showing frog "asleep" under water

Picture of Mama bear hibernating with a cub.

Picture of one of several pages of very little creatures

There is a lot of information explaining what hibernation is and where to learn more about animals and reptiles. This should set a lot of kids on their way. Most children are curious about the natural world, and this is a great book to whet their appetites. And don't forget the list I put at the front.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing for the preview from which I've selected a handful of pictures to whet your appetites, too. Excellent for the northern hemisphere holiday season! All grandparents - note!

An adorably sweet picture book that explains the turn of seasons and all that comes with it (i.e. the loss of animals). My class enjoyed reading this book!

Winter Sleep is a warm and charming picture book with beautiful illustrations. It was also really neat with the additional information about hibernation in the back, so kids can learn more about it. I'm sure this is a book that could work well in the classroom.

It is summer and a little boy is visiting his grandmother’s house. She knows all about nature and shares about the flowers, the pond, the birds, butterflies etc. as they walk to the clearing by the pond. It is a beautiful and peaceful place to be. When he goes back in the winter to visit, he wonders what has happened to everything. Is everything dead? His grandmother explains to him what different creatures do during the winter. She shows him locations of where they might be and how they protect themselves during the winter months.

I loved the illustrations in this book. The colours were varied with greens and bright colours for summer, followed by shades of white, brown, and grey for winter. The cutaways in the winter show where and how the animals hibernate. At the back of the book was more information about hibernation. I read this book with my grandchildren and I liked that there was something for children of various ages. My 3 year old granddaughter enjoyed the pictures and seeing the animals sleeping. My 6 year old grandson enjoyed learning about the hibernation facts that I read him at the back of the book. This is a wonderful book to use in primary classrooms when learning about the change of seasons, animal adaptations and the environment. I definitely recommend this one to schools and classrooms.

A very sweet story with lovely, quiet illustrations taking the reader through nature to enjoy the changing of the seasons. A good explanation of hibernation. Engaging read-aloud.

A really cute way to introduce children to animals that hibernate albeit the book was short. The artstyle is extremely adorable and I love the coloring they chose in each page that I wanted more. I wasn't aware that insects hibernate too since they usually have a short life span.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – words & pictures for Winter Sleep A Hibernation Story by Sean Taylor and Alex Morss. A young child visits their Granny Sylvie in the summer and goes out exploring with her to see all the animals nearby. When the child returns in the winter, where have all the animals gone. Granny Sylvie teaches the young child all about hibernation of animals and insects including bats and bumblebees.

After the fictional story, there is a more scientific section discussing the hibernation routine for different mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and birds. There is also a section on how you can help hibernating animals with ideas like building a bat house. There is also a list of websites to find even more information. A cute story with lots of true information comes together for a great book.

Parts of this picture book about hibernation are really wonderful, but parts left me frustrated. The book is a story for the first half, about a boy who visits his grandmother's property and explores all of the nature in the summer and then comes back to visit in the winter when it appears that all the animals are gone. Grandma explains about hibernation and the illustrations show lots of animals like bears, fish, insects, bats, bees, etc. hibernating. The second half of the book goes into paragraphs about the ways that various animals, insects and other creatures hibernate, as well as a definition of hibernation.

My frustration with the book was that it doesn't do a great job of explaining what hibernation actually is, and doesn't deal with the fact that scientists don't even agree about whether some of the animals mentioned actually hibernate. It also doesn't talk about the fact that many animals rouse from "hibernation" and go out and gather food and such on warmer days.

For example, here's what the Sierra Club says about whether bears hibernate:

"Ask anyone which animal comes to mind when they hear the word “hibernate” and their response will likely be a brown or black bear. It may be common to picture a burly, fattened-up mama grizzly slumbering away in her winter den deep in the woods while the white snow blankets everything in sight. This follows with the dangerous misconception that sleeping bears are nearly impossible to arouse during the winter months. True hibernation occurs when an animal drastically lowers their body temperature to nearly match their surroundings, and sleeps through the winter. Hibernating animals, like woodchucks, appear lifeless and are not easily awakened.

Bears, on the other hand, exhibit torpor, a shorter-term reduction in body temperature accompanied by lethargy. Heart rate drops, but not as much as that of true hibernators. Though less active than usual, bears in torpor can readily respond to external stimuli."

The book does not talk at all about the fact that many of the animals mentioned do rouse on warmer days, or about lowered body temperature as a means of determining hibernation. If you're going to pick up a picture book to teach children about hibernation, it ought to have really good information about the subject and cover even the elements that aren't as easy to explain.

All that said, it has great art and it does provide a lot of information about what various animals and insects do in the winter.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

Winter Sleep is a story about a young boy that visits his grandmother in the spring. The two enjoy a nature walk together and explore various aspects of the natural world around the grandmother's house. The boy returns in the winter and hopes to have a similar experience with nature. However, he is disappointed to learn that many changes took place when winter began. He remarks that everything looks dead and his grandmother uses this as a teachable moment to help him learn about some of the organisms that are hibernating for the winter. The end of the book includes facts about different organisms that hibernate throughout the winter, including many that are not featured in the book.

This book would be great to share with elementary age children to introduce and expand on the idea of hibernation. I appreciate that the story answers questions that children may have about the changes in seasons. I also like all the factual information about hibernation, which could be used to encourage conversations between parents or teachers and children. The illustrations in the book make great use of color to show the change between seasons. Additionally, illustrations allow children to see how some of the organisms actually hibernate (underground, in trees, under the water).

I received a free copy of this title from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#WinterSleep #NetGalley

A cosy and charming bedtime story set across a striking winter landscape. Through the glistening frost and the silky snow blankets, a peaceful underworld of sleeping woodland animals in their natural hibernation habitat is revealed.

Part story and part fact, Sean Taylor and Alex Morss have created a gentle yet detailed introduction into animals and their hibernation. Accompanied with delightfully, winsome illustrations by Cinyee Chiu, Winter Sleep makes for a wonderful addition to every child's bookcase.

Winter Sleep is a delightful book that celebrates the beauty of nature in winter as well as the beauty of relationship between grandmother and child. The educational elements about woodland creatures is clear and engaging, and the illustrations are delightful.

Although some of the animals and trees are not native to Alberta, the story about hiberation and how we can help animals that hiberate, would be useful in my elementary school library. The illustrations are lovely. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is a story for young children that is about how animals hibernate in the winter. It is told through the point of view of a young child who is visiting his grandmother. Children will learn a lot of interesting facts as they look through this beautiful, peaceful and charmingly illustrated book. A great resource for young nature lovers.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for an honest review.

A big thank-you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for giving me a copy of this book for an unbiased review.

4/5 - Really liked it.

This book is split into two parts. The first is a sweet, beautifully illustrated story of a child learning about the cycles of nature from a wise grandparent. The second is a more scientific explanation of what hibernation is and an account of how different animals survive the winter.

The first section is very enjoyable and peaceful. It makes for a good bedtime story. The second is really interesting, to nature-loving children and adults alike. The vocabulary in this section is advanced, but accessible to the average child, especially one interested in nature.

I would recommend this to parents, educators, and librarians.

Especially love when books like this have additional scientific information for kids to explore in the back. So many animals and creatures hibernate!

A fun way to foster curiosity during the shift to the colder months.. love that it is a grandma who is the knowledgeable scientist and model of curiosity for her grandson.

The writing is just okay for me, but the other parts make it strong for me and so easy to use in the classroom/ with the young middle grade range.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I adore stories that help children learn and this story does just that! A child goes to visit grandma at her wooded home and they get to experience the forest during summer, when all the flowers and plants are in bloom. When the animals fly and crawl about, but when they go again to the forest in the winter, it's a whole new world. A story teaching children about hibernation and in all honesty, it teaches me things too.
#Netgalley