“We know we share this wild and wonderful wintery world.”
Although the woods appear empty after the snow falls, the young narrators in When Winter Comes: Discovering Wildlife in Our Snowy Woods know better. The story follows a family enjoying fun winter activities such as sledding, skiing, and having a snowball fight, all while learning about the habits of forest animals along the way. Each forest animal is celebrated for its unique features, and the children explain where they go during the winter, touching on the full animal kingdom circle of life. Bissonette helps readers understand ecosystems’ complex, seemingly invisible elements in an engrossing manner.

My favorite aspects of When Winter Comes: Discovering Wildlife in Our Snowy Woods are the immersive landscape drawings and rich descriptions that transport the reader straight into a snowy and frozen forest. Readers from warmer locations like Arizona may not be familiar with the impact cold weather has on the environment and animals. Personally, despite growing up in the Midwest, I never considered how active winter ecosystems are, even when you can’t directly see many animals. However, When Winter Comes: Discovering Wildlife in Our Snowy Woods teaches readers about different animals’ hibernation patterns during winter and where they can be found. Bissonette interweaves the relatable narrative of a family enjoying common wintertime activities with the educational aspects of animal behavior during winter to keep readers entertained while they learn. Children will love the accompanying animal illustrations that display the animals in their natural ecosystems. A fun way to make the story even more engaging for children could be to have them try to locate and identify all of the wildlife pictured and select their favorite to learn more about. When Winter Comes: Discovering Wildlife in Our Snowy Woods is an immersive read that celebrates winter and the spectacular wildlife we get to share our snowy environment with.

This is such a fun and beautiful read about the forest in winter time.

It talks about all the reasons why the forest can be fun for families in winter and advocates for all of the little animals hanging around too!
The love this family has for one another as well as nature just truly cannot be matched.

It is a celebration of being together; with your family, with animals, all part of nature.

A very well illustrated, colorful book about winter season, which can tell you about winter animals on the way .Children will definitely enjoy knowing about these animals and snowy weather.

This was such a cute great picture book to appreciate winter and all that it offers. It definitely made me want to get outside with my family to enjoy it more.

When Winter Comes: Discovering Wildlife in Our Snowy Woods is the perfect picture book to curl up with at this time of year. It's such a beautiful book which celebrates the joy that can be found in wintery activities - families enjoy fishing, sledging and skiing and although everywhere is covered in snow much of our wildlife is still active too.

Erin Hourigan’s gorgeous illustrations evoke the characteristics of winter with bright colours against beautiful snowy backgrounds. Double spreads showing day and night are peppered with short pieces of text. We love the lyrical language, the imagery and the alliteration. Particular favourite lines include a ‘slushy slumber party of sleepily swimming rainbow trout’ and ‘we snowshoe across cover tangles of tunnels below the snow’.

A joyful celebration of winter :)

While a family enjoys the pleasures offered by chilly temperatures, the reader gets to learn all about how animals, both seen and unseen by passersby, cope with the wintry weather. The illustrations by Erin Hourigan are lovely, and really capture the feel of the season.

This would make a very nice addition to a school library.

Thank you so much to Sasquatch Books and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

This is a really sweet rhyming picture book all about the winter, sharing the secrets of the animals all around even when everything is covered in blankets of snow. I really liked how sweet it was that it was still sharing the fun of the family, but also sharing all about the critters and the hibernating and non hibernating animals.

It was a really beautiful story, with pretty hand drawn illustrations to look at on each page. It makes you feel really cosy and ready for the season. It’s a perfect read on a cold day with your family it will set a perfect place for winter time.

If you love reading sweet winter based stories to your family during the colder wintery months then I suggest to add this one in too, it’s really simple, quick but gets you all cosy for the season.

This was such a lovely winter story and my 3 year old and I really enjoyed it. It’s full of wonderful imagery and I love the cosy feeling it evokes.
The book mentions about many animals that my little boy didn’t already know. He’s been really enjoying finding out more about those. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous as well, they really do elevate the book.

What a delightful and charming book about the changes winter brings! The story teaches kids about what different animals do in the winter, and the illustrations are beautiful and add so much to the story. I loved the pictures that showed things above and below the ground, such as the fish beneath the ice on the pond. We live in the South where snow is very unlikely, and this book made me wish I lived somewhere we could have a white winter. It was beautifully atmospheric and my kids greatly enjoyed it

Thank you to NetGalley and Sasquatch for the ARC of this adorable wintery book!

It should come as no surprise that as the first real snow of the winter begins to fall on my beloved adopted state's mountains that I'd be drawn to this charming, poetic children's book. It's a good reminder to those of us who live in snow globe settings much of the year that the pristine, silent white expanse we view isn't empty or, for that matter, silent. Far from it.

The author's writing is simple and easy to read and follow while the illustrations are, and I live in Alaska, a lovely rendition of reality with a smidgen of fantasy winter tossed in there. (I've never tucked any wild creatures into my own bed, not to mention a mix of them). Having been stunned to learn about an Alaska frog that freezes in the winter and thaws out, very much alive, as it warms, I found the mention of how many small creatures survive the frigid temperatures a nice touch, as was the mention of all the life going on under the snow and frozen bodies of water.

In other words, the book is not only delightful but, dare I say it, teaches, too, but gently. It'll make you look more closely at wandering tracks in the snow. You'll learn to pay more attention to the trees and how they work to shelter birds and small climbing critters like those pesky squirrels that amaze no matter the season. You'll learn and maybe, shh, come to appreciate poetic musings, too, as you enjoy this gentle visit to the woods on a snowy day.

Thanks #NetGalley and #SasquatchBooks - #LittleBigfoot for reminding me of the wonders of the season that grips my adopted home state for so many months of the year. It's cold but, yes, magical. This book does a wonderful job capturing that sense of wonder.

"When Winter Comes" is a truly charming depiction of life during the winter season, with its fun games in the snow and breathtaking landscapes, all mixed with a lovely message of awareness for the ever present wildlife all around us.

The illustrations are superb and the message very deep and meaningful. I found the book very poetic and atmopsheric.

I strongly recommend it. It's full of tenderness, joy and warmth. A beautiful and inspiring ode to the simple joys of life and our connection to the natural world around us.

This book has some lovely illustrations for my 4 year old. He really enjoyed the description of winter and the animals. This story has become a firm favourite at bedtime especially as the seasons change.

I really love this short read that has stunning imagery and celebrates all that winter has to offer. The book tells all about the creatures who are active and hibernating during the winter, as well as favourite activities humans enjoy during the season. It is a perfect cozy read for kids to snuggle up with and discover.

Short and sweet! Lovely little book about the lovely things of Winter!

**I reviewed When Winter Comes by Aimée M. Bissonette for free in exchange for my honest review. #WhenWinterComes #NetGalley**

100000/10 would recommend.
Grab a cup of cocoa, coffee or hot chocolate and snuggle up like a bug in a rug and enjoy the winter scenes in this cozy lil book!

DISCLAIMER: I LOVE the snow, I LOVE the winter- the smells, the animals, the cold, the cozy fires- every. single. thing!

When Winter Comes is the sweetest winter story that gives me alllll the vibes! The illustrations were beautiful- simple, yet elegant and heart-warming. This is a book that would make even the summer jealous and wish it were winter! The atmosphere is exactly the way the art depicts, I could almost feel the snow in my shoes and smell the crisp air. I LOVED the description of the fish under the slushy water, it brought me right to that lake.

This would be a fun gift for a kiddo who doesn't live in an area that experiences snow so they can get a glimpse of other climates and weather.

I loved this book! I think it is because winter is my favorite season. This sums up the best part of winter. Ice skating was left out, but the description of nature and illustrations were spot on.

What a heartwarming book about winter! I adored all the different animals depicted in the book, and that the forest comes alive, even in winter. Beautiful, simple illustrations. The text could have been a little bigger though.

This is such a cute story for kids to read during winter. I loved the cover and illustrations. I will have to add this to our winter collection for my kids and myself to read together.

This is not a new picture book, but with all the snow on the ground for many of us, it is a nice book to sit and read with children who may forget all the wildlife still active (or sleeping) in that cold white blanket.

When Winter Comes provides children with a glimpse into how animals make it through the winter. The illustrations are beautiful and children will enjoy seeing all the different places animals live in the winter. The pictures that show animals living under the snow and ice are especially compelling. This would be a great simple book to read to students learning about the seasons or hibernation.