These books, recommended for kids in grades 3-6, are celebrations of the cold and snow that can be enjoyed while staying warm and snug inside!
Snow One Like You by Natalie Blitt
Mia can’t wait for the Winter Festival–it’s what her hometown, Flurry, Vermont, is famous for. Plus, maybe she can work up the courage to show the cute new boy, Yoshi, how much fun snowball fights can be. There’s just one problem: the weather forecast isn’t predicting a single snowflake before the big day. And what’s the Winter Festival without snow? Canceling the festival would spell disaster for the local businesses, including the cozy inn that Mia’s family runs. With the town in chaos, Mia is suddenly at odds with Yoshi and with her best friend, Lark. Can Mia save the festival in time…or is she in for a wintry mix of troubles?
The Cold People by Christopher Pike
Adam and his friends are exploring the forest near Spooksville when they come across huge blocks of ice hidden among the trees. They decide to melt one, but when they do, a strange man comes out of the ice and tries to grab them. The man has very cold hands, and his eyes aren’t too warm either! Soon there are dozens of Cold People running around Spooksville freezing everyone. It seems like nothing can stop them. But Adam and his friends have an idea that just might save the day.
I Survived the Children’s Blizzard, 1888 by Lauren Tarshis
When John Hale’s parents moved from Chicago to a farm in the Dakota Territory in the late 1880s, he was not happy (too hot in summer, too cold in winter, and that is just the beginning); but after a year, and now eleven, he has settled in and made some friends at school–but when a sunny day in January 1888 turns abruptly into a deadly blizzard he will need all his strength and courage to survive what became known to history as The Children’s Blizzard.
Ice Drift by Theodore Taylor
Two Inuit brothers must fend for themselves while stranded on an ice floe that is adrift in the Greenland Strait. The boys watch with horror as the dark expanse of water between the ice and the shore rapidly widens, and they start drifting south–away from their home, their family, and everything they’ve ever known. Throughout their six-month-long journey down the Greenland Strait, the brothers face bitter cold, starvation, and most frightening of all, vicious polar bears. But they still remain hopeful that one day they’ll be rescued.
Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen
Instead of being rescued from a plane crash, as in the author’s book Hatchet, this story portrays what would have happened to Brian had he been forced to survive a winter in the wilderness with only his survival pack and hatchet.
Winter in Wartime by Jan Terlouw
It’s the winter of 1944-45, and Michiel’s country has been at war since he was eleven. Now he’s fifteen, and his country is under Nazi occupation, including the town where Michiel lives and where his father is the mayor. No longer able to attend school, Michiel spends his days running urgent errands on his bicycle, avoiding Allied bombers and German soldiers alike. One day, he is involved in the care of a wounded British pilot. When a German soldier is found murdered and the townspeople are blamed for his death, Michiel’s already-risky mission turns life-threatening.
The Lost Frost Girl by Amy Wilson
With a name like hers, Owl never expected her life to be normal, at home or at school. But when Owl finds out that she is Jack Frost’s daughter, her world shifts beyond what she could ever imagine. Determined to meet him, Owl delves into Jack’s wonderful world of winter and magic–the kind of place she thought only existed in fairy tales. And as she notices frost patterns appearing on her skin and her tears turning to ice, Owl starts to wonder if being Jack Frost’s daughter means that she has powers of her very own.
Cold as Ice by Sarah Mylnowski
On their sixth trip through the magic mirror, Abby and Jonah find themselves in the story of the Snow Queen, a troubled character who chose power over family and friendship, and Abby has free the children the Queen has under her spell–with the help of her new friend, a talking reindeer called Ralph, and a strange girl named Sharon.
Ember and the Ice Dragons by Heather Fawcett
Ember St. George is a dragon. At least she was before her adoptive father–a powerful but accident-prone Magician–turned her into a human girl to save her life. Unfortunately, Ember’s growing tendency to burst into flames at certain temperatures–not to mention her invisible wings–is making it too dangerous for her to stay in London. The solution: ship Ember off to her aunt’s research station in frigid Antarctica. Though eccentric Aunt Myra takes getting used to, Ember quickly feels at home in a land of ice storms, mischievous penguins, and twenty-four-hour nights. She even finds herself making friends with a girl genius called Nisha and a mysterious orphan named Moss.
Bears of the Ice: the Quest of the Cubs by Kathryn Lasky
It is a time of trouble in the Northern Kingdoms because a group of power-hungry polar bears called Roguers has been snatching cubs from their mothers and killing those who resist; but Svenna is not about to relinquish her two cubs to that fate, so she agrees to go with the Roguers and serve Mystress of the Hands if her cubs, who have special powers, are allowed to stay with her cousin–but nobody is truly safe when a way of life is collapsing around them.
